wmmmmm :r\ y^siES DIA 'mm^^mm. 1 "' ,.' ■«'. r»2 IP ^BSSmRS^^^ '?**'!IrT^ The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023897634 Cornell University Library DX 283.M17 Accounts of the Gypsies of India, 3 1924 023 897 634 DX ^^ i-^ Jiabgnn2C^^^^^ Note.— In this Map the chief places mentioned in Professor De Goeje's treatise are underlined in red. X? HrtliolaiawwiEJEiw ACCOUNTS OF THE GYPSIES OF INDIA ACCOUNTS OF THE GYPSIES OF INDIA COLLECTED AND EDITED BY David MacRitchie AUTHOR OF "ancient AND MODERN BRITONS " WITH MAP AND TWO ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1886 /\.t5:i-Di<^ (The tights oftramlaiion and of reproductim are rcsen-cd.) PREFACE. " There are four hundred books on the gypsies," says a modern tsiganologue, "but in all not more than ten which tell us any- thing new or true about them." Whether this statement is meant to be accepted literally or not, it is evident that much of what is written upon this subject is merely the echo of previous accounts. And also, that a false light has frequently been thrown upon the figures of the gypsies, owing to the fact that they have often been described by people having little or nothing of intimacy with them, and knowing little or nothing of their history. This being so, it is necessary that an addition to the " four hundred " VI PREFACE. should show good cause why it has come into being. Nothing in the way of apology requires to be made for the introducing of Professor De Goeje's treatise to English readers ; to the most of whom it has the desired qualities of newness and truth. The translation here given has had the benefit of the author's careful revision, and has met with his ap- proval. This was most necessary, as the editor is neither the translator, nor has he any acquaintance with the authorities quoted, nor with the languages in which they wrote. As a study, by an Oriental scholar, of certain passages in the history of an Oriental race, the " Contribution " is unquestionably of value. The same theme had previously been treated of— in 1853, by Dr. Pott, and, earlier still, by M. Paul Bataillard, in 1849 — but not with the fullness of research displayed by Mr. De Goeje. The names of Bataillard and De Goeje, PREFACE. Vll however, represent two very opposite sides, in certain matters of belief; and it is not inappropriate to remark that, with every respect for the erudition which the "Contri- bution " displays, its editor does not wholly concur in all the deductions of its learned author. This difference of opinion shows itself in more than one passage in the appended Notes, and elsewhere. As for the Appendix itself, it is essential to remark that, although explanatory in some degree of several of the allusions in Mr. De Goeje's treatise, it really embodies a good deal of other information. Had this long series of notes been the only thing appended to the " Contribution," forming with it a separate publication, the portentous size of the Appendix would have been an unpardon- able offence, to author and to reader. But it seemed convenient to incorporate various other remarks with those which directly relate to the " Contribution ; " and in this vm PREFACE. lies my excuse for the bulk of this Appendix. A like apology must also be offered to the Author, for the expression, in the same place, of more than one sentiment at variance with the opinions which he holds. The description given of the siege of Bhurtpoor must necessarily appear an ex- crescence to gypsiologists pure and simple. But it is easy to evade the reading of it. On the other hand, a different class of readers may find more interest in it than in the other portions of the book. It is the former, however, who are chiefly addressed in these pages, and it is hoped that they will find, even in the restatement of various facts well known to them, something that will throw fresh light upon the subject. CONTENTS. A Contribution to the History of the Gypsies. By M. J. De Goeje, Professor of Arabic in the University of Leyden ... i Appendix to Professor De Goeje's Treatise 6i The Siege of Bhurtpoor ... ... ... 127 Remarks on Certain Gypsy Characteristics . 204 Miscellaneous Remarks ... ... ... 223 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE GYPSIES. BY M. J. DE GOEJE. (Extracted from the Proceedings of the " Koninklijke Akademievan Wetenschappen" of Amsterdam, 1875; by permission of the Author. From a translation by Mr. J. Snijders, of Edinburgh.) Since the publication of Pott's book upon the gipsies — about thirty years ago — we have come to regard the origin of this singular people with considerable unanimity of opinion. Almost nobody doubts now that they are Indians ; and the assumption that all the gypsies scattered throughout Europe are descended from one parent stock meets with little contradiction. Both of these 2 PliOFESSOR DE GOEJE ON beliefs are the outcome of the investigation of their language. But, on the other hand, the history of the gypsies, prior to 141 7 — when they emerged from Hungary and crossed the frontiers of Germany — is almost completely shrouded in darkness. Scattered proofs have been found -X)f their residence, at an earlier date, in the Slavonic countries and in the island of Cyprus, but all else is con- jecture. Thus, Grellmann has placed their departure from India in the time of Timur, an idea more fully worked out by Rienzi and Heister, who assume that they were em- ployed by Timur as spies and foragers,^ and that they were afterwards carried further west by the Turks, in the same capacity. So far as I am aware, this theory has con- tinued to remain a mere supposition unsup- ported by proof. There is nothing to be found in the history of Timur for or against ' This theory is perhaps derived from Vita Timuri, Manger's edition, iii. p. 804, et seq., taken in conjunction with i. p. 487. But these passages do not warrant the belief. THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. it. Others, again, place the gypsy migra- tion in a very remote past. I am not here referring to the exquisite hypothesis which Steur has recently advanced in his Ethno- graphie des peuples de VEurope^ that the gypsies may be the descendants of the dwellers in the sunken Atlantis. But Batail- lard^ is inclined to believe that there is a connection between the Sicani, the aboriginal people of Sicily, and the Zigeuners^ (or Zigani). He leaves us in doubt, ' however, as to his reasons for this conjecture, beyond the uniformity in name. 1 believe I have also seen it stated somewhere that there is a possible connection between the Siculi (Zekel, Sycli) of the Hungarian chronicles and the Zigeuners. The Siculi are certainly ^ iii. p. 266, et seq. " Jievue Critique, 1870, ii. p. 213; compared with p. 208, note 2. ' [Except on such an occasion as this, where it is obviously necessary to retain the original word, I have rendered Mr. De Goeje's Zigeuner by our own equivalent, gypsy.— Kt).] PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON described as a race possessing many pecu- liarities.' But then, they had inhabited Hungary for centuries before there can be any question oi gypsies in that territory. In place of all these conjectural theories, how- ever, I believe I am in a position to com- municate certain positive accounts, which I desire to submit to your consideration. Pott, in the introduction to his book,* and quoting from the Skah-Name of Firdousi, informs us that, during the fifth century of our era, the Persian monarch, Behram Gour, received from an Indian king 12,000 musi- cians of both sexes, who were known as Liiris. Now, as this is the name by which the gypsies of Persia are known even at the present day, and as, moreover, the author of the Persian work Modjmal at-tawdrikh^ ^ Script, rerum Hungar., ed. Schwandtnen, Vindob, 1746-48, i. pp. 33, 78, 334, (758), 786. ^ i. p. 62. ' See Reinaud, Memoire surl'Inde, p. 112. As regards the authorities in this book, Reinaud refers to them in THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. emphatically says that the Lfirls or Liilts of modern Persia are the descendants of these same 12,000 musicians, there is no hazard in the assumption that we have here the first recorded gypsy migration. Confirmation of this is afforded by the Arabian historian, Hamza of Ispahan, who wrote half a century before Firdousi, and who was well versed in the history of the Sassanides. It is related by this author that Behram Gour caused 12,000 musicians, called Zott, to be sent from India for the benefit of his subjects. And Zott is the name by which the gypsies were known to the Arabs, and which they even bear in Damascus at the present day. In the Arabic dictionary al-KamiUs this entry occurs : " Zott, arabicized from Jatt, a people of Indian origin. The word might be pro- nounced Zatt with equal correctness. A single individual is called Zottt." In the the preface to his Fragments arabes et persans, p. vii, et seg. See also ElHot, History of India, i. p. 100, et seq. ; ii. p. 161, et seq. 6 PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON lexicon MoMt we read : " Zott, a rao4 from India, arabicized from Jatt ; Zottish' clothes are named after them, a single piece bemg called Zottl. These are the people who are called Nawar in Syria, and sometimes they are styled Motriblya (i.e. musicians), their avocation being that of players upon stringed instruments and drums. They are likewise dancers. Their name is also employed as a term of contempt. Thus people say, when they wish to characterize others as low or contemptible, ' So-and-so is a Zotti,' or, more directly," ' You Zotti ! '" ^ Under the heading Nawar, the gypsies are described at great length, in terms which recall the type with which we are familiar. Bocthor says, in his French-Arabic dictionary, that " Bohemien " (particularized as "wandering Arab, Tchin- ghiarie, who tells fortunes, steals, etc.") is called at Kesrowin Nawart, plur. Nawar, and at Damascus Zotti, plur. Zott? Lastly, ' [See Appendix, Note A., "Zotti, a Term of Contempt."] ^ [See Appendix, Note B., "Arabic and English Plurals."] THE ZOTTS, OR JAUTS. 7 Vullers,.in his Persian dictionary, quotes this from a native Persian dictionary : " Djat nomen tribus segregatae infimse sortis et deserta habitantis in Hindtistin." In the Ubrary of Leyden we possess a remarkable little book, as yet unpublished, written about the year 1235 by Jaubart, entitled Secrets Revealed, in which are described all the occu- pations of the people whom we designate kermisvolk} In this book, of which I have given a lengthy account in the twentieth part 1 [That is, fair-people , by which is meant travelling showmen, mountebanks, acrobats, jugglers, minstrels, fortune- tellers, card-sharpers, thimble-riders, and others of that class of itinerant performers, once so conspicuous a feature of the Dutch (as of the British) fair or market. From two subsequent references of Mr. De Goeje's (at pp. 30 and 48), it is evident that he regards those kermis- volk as being, or as having been originally, gypsies by blood. Mr. C. G. Leland also bears a like testimony, when he says of such people (at p. 140 of The Gypsies) : " If there be not descent [from the Romand], there is affinity by marriage, familiarity, knowledge of words and ways, sweethearting and trafficking, so that they know the children of the Rom as the house-world does not know them, and they in some sort belong together." — Ed.] 8 PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON of the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenldnd- ischen Gesellschaft, the gypsies are again spoken of under this name Zott. For the fatherland of these Zott, or Jatt, we have not long to seek. Istakhrt^ and Ibn-Haukal,' the celebrated tenth-century geographers, recount as follows : — " Between al-Mans{ira and MokrUn the waters of the Indus have formed marshes, the borders of which are inhabited by certain Indian tribes, called Zott ; those of them who dwell near the river live in huts, like the huts of the Berbers, and subsist chiefly on fish and water-fowl ; while those occupying the level country further inland live like the Kurds, supporting themselves on milk, cheese, and maize." In these same regions there are yet two more tribes placed by these geographers, namely, the Bodha and the Meid.^ The " Page 1 80 of my edition. ' Page 23s of my edition. Mokaddasi gives a similar account to Istakhri. ° The pronunciation of both these names is variable. THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. former are properly, according to Ibn- Haukal/ a subdivision of the Zott ; or, more correctly, a part of the " country of the Zott " is denominated Bodha. Therefore Belidsort* speaks also of "the Zott of al-Bodha."* Concerning these two tribes we read ; * " The heathen inhabiting the borders of Sind are the Bodha and a people called the Meid. The former consist of tribes scattered between the frontiers of T^irin,* Mokrin, Multin, and the territory of Mans\,(>2. Edinburgh, 1828. 124 APPENDIX TO third century. At any rate, he is a very interesting specimen of the early juggler ; and one would like to know what was the language spoken by himself and his brother Ethiopians. The story retold by Ritson makes him speak Latin ; but was that his mother tongue ? One might indulge still further in speculations regarding the antiquity of gypsy-minstrelsy in Europe. It has been pointed out to me that Liszt (Des BoMmiens, et de leur Musique en Hongrie) has styled certain of his compositions " Hungarian Rhapsodies" because they contain a certain element (giving a character to the whole) which strongly reminded him of the ancient Greek Rhapsody. And he acknowledges that these " Hungarian Rhapsodies " are largely the result of his inter- course with the gypsies of Hungary. Now, it has further been pointed out to me that the early rhapsodists of Greece were nomadic ballad-singers, like those people whom we call gypsies when they are spoken of in comparatively recent times, and jugglers, or jongleurs, at earlier dates. Further, those ancient rhapsodists, or ballad-singers, em- ployed a certain recitative chant, as did also the later rhapsodists of Ireland ; while one of the names lately given to gypsies was that of "the canting crew." ^ The Sibyls of antiquity, also, are ' See Ancient and Modern Britons, vol. ii. p. 290, note, and PP- 300. 301- PROFESSOR DE GOEJES TREATISE. 1 25 regarded by Mr. Paul Bataillard as, in all proba- bility, of gypsy race.^ These last, however, are here cited for the sake of indicating a caste of possible gypsies, at a remote date ; and not as examples of wandering musicians. In these statements and suggestions bearing upon "the gypsies as musicians," there is much that does not strictly belong to Professor De Goeje's theme ; and perhaps there is also a good deal that would not commend itself to him. But, though somewhat speculative, the ideas thrown out in this note seem to me to be worth considering. The following reference bears upon the remarks made regarding gypsies in their character of jugglers, not where that word signifies musicians, but where it denotes mountebanks. A writer of last century, in stating that it is a gypsy maxim to "beg when people's hearts are merry," adds that this is " also the practice of mountebanks, who are of the same origin with the gypsies," and whose custom it is to "put the people always in good humour by jokes, by tricks and tumblings, before they offer to vend their medicines." The people whom he calls " mountebanks " are thus made to combine in themselves the characteristics oi gypsies, joculatores, sleight-of-hand performers, acrobats, and quacks, or charlatans. So that any collected proofs, or hints, of the connection between gypsies and ' See Les Origines des Bohimiens, pp. 19, 20. 126 APPENDIX TO DE GOEJE'S TREATISE. those itinerant castes would have been quite superfluous to this author, to whom that connection was an accepted fact. [The passage quoted is from a curious work — Mammuth ; or Human Nature Displayed . . . in a Tour with the Tinkers : London, 1789 (see pp. 97, 98, vol. i.). Its author, a Dr. Thomson, had plainly gone through ex- periences similar to those of Borrow and others, and although the book is largely Gulliverian and fanciful, many of the statements about British gypsies seem to be reliable.] Note Q. — Zigeuners, Zigani, etc. With so many hypotheses before one — each in its turn appearing to be the most plausible — it is difficult to know which one to favour. It may be further noted, that, in addition to the derivations suggested by Professor De Goeje, and many others, Mr. C. G. Leland has lately propounded another solution of " this philological ignis fatuus " (in The Gypsies, Y>. ^i9,et seq.). PLAN OF BHURTPOOR. GOPALQURH GATE OUNQEENAH GATE 800RAJP0RE GATE MUTTRA GATE BEERNARAIN GATE UTTAL-BUND GATE NEEMDAH GATE ANAH GATE KOMBHEER GATE 10 BANSOO GATE A Breach assaulted by LL-CoI. Delamaln. B General Reynell's Ualn Attack. C Colonel Wilson's Attack. D General NlchoUs' Main Attack. E Extreme Lett Breach. P Site of Lord Lake's Batteries (1804-6). 1 Aaaault on the " long-netiktd " bastion by General NichoUn' main ccilumn. 2 Colonel Wilson's escalade The Fathan ; The Storming [ (Showcnq the North Eastern Portions of 1 ^tion attacked by General ReyneU'a mala column. 1 Colonel Delannain's assault. F BhURTPOOR, IE Enceinte, where the attack was made,) J. BanLolouiow. E^irf THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. "The traditions of the Hindu Jdts of Biana and Bharatpur point to Kandahar as their parent country," we are told by a well-known Indian archaeologist — General Cunningham. Whether this town is the modern Kandahar, or whether it is that Gandara, Kandohdr, or KondoMr, to which Professor De Goeje refers, is a question requiring little more than a passing allusion here. But those Jauts of Bhurtpoor (otherwise Bharatpur, Bharipur, and Bhurtpore) are undoubtedly an offshoot from the great Jaut or Zott stem, whose history has been so closely studied by the Dutch gypsiologist. And to British readers they have quite a peculiar interest. Because 128 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. it was from the walls of their fortress that a British army was compelled, in the January of 1805, to retire, baffled and humbled, after vainly attempting on four different occasions to carry the place by storm ; and although, twenty-one years later, this failure was balanced by the triumphant assault directed by Lord Combermere, the victory was not obtained until after a stubborn and masterly defence, by a most gallant foe. That this particular Jaut family was seated in Afghanistan at an earlier date is not un- likely ; and there are still many of their kindred in that country. " The Jats of Afghanistan," says one writer,^ "doubtless belong to the same vast race as the Jats and Jits who form so large a part of the popula- tion of the territories now governed from Lahore and Karachi." These Afghan Jauts are described as " a fine, athletic, dark, hand- some race ; " and, together with the Hindkis, ' In the Encyclopedia Britannica (9th edit.), vol. i. P- 235- THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 129 they constitute about one-eighth of the popu- lation of Afghanistan. But, if the Jauts of Bhurtpoor have come from the Kandahar of Afghanistan, their exodus must be placed five hundred years. back, at least. Because Reijiaud, as quoted by De Goeje, informs us that this tribe was settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi at the time of Tamerlane's invasion of the north of India. It is less likely, however, that their " parent country " was Kandahar than that it was Sind ; in which latter territory the coinage of another town, Kandohir, was current. And Sind, together with the Punjaub, was peculiarly the home of the Jauts. It was in the Indus Valley that Tamerlane slew two- thousand of the race before he came to Delhi ; it was this district, inclusive of the Five Rivers, that an early writer says was " of old " inhabited solely by people of Jaut blood ; and so much was the identity oi Jaut and Sindi recognized that the two terms were interchangeable, and the speech of the 130 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. Jauts is, we are told, " now generally known as Sindhi."^ Whatever their earlier history may have been, the Jauts of Bhurtpoor are discernible in that neighbourhood in the fourteenth century, the era of Tamerlane. And they have held their ground there ever since. At the present day, the population of the territory of Bhurtpoor, estimated at about 750,000, consists mainly of Jauts ; and its princes, for many generations, have been of this stock. This state, we learn, rose into importance in the early part of last century, " under ^ It may be inferred, from two statements in Professor De Goeje's treatise, that SindzX. one time included a large part of Modern Beloochistan. Thus, Kozdur is stated (ante, p. 9, note 5) to be situated in Sind, although it is really a considerable distance within the eastern frontier of Beloochistan. A much more extreme instance than this is the reference to the town of Tiz, or Teez, which is described as "the capital of Mokran in Sind" {ante, pp. 25, 26), whereas Mokran, or Mekran, is wholly in Beloochistan, Teez itself being about four hundred miles west of Sind. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 131 Sdraj Mall, who bore a conspicuous part in the destruction of the Delhi empire. Having built the forts of Dig and Kumbher in 1 730, he received, in 1756, the title of Rajd, and subsequently joined the great Marhatta army with 30,000 troops. But the misconduct of the Marhatta leader induced him to abandon the confederacy, just in time to escape the murderous defeat at Paniput. Suraj Mall raised the Jdt power to its highest point ; ^ .and Colonel Dow, in 1770, estimated the Rajd's revenue (perhaps extravagantly) at ;^2,ooo,ooo, and his military force at 60,000 or 70,000 men. In 1803, the East India Company concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, with Bhartpur. In 1804, however, the Rdja assisted the Marhattas against the British."^ Then followed Lord Lake's cam- paign, at the outset of which he captured the fortress of Dig; but was never able to penetrate the formidable ramparts that sur- ^ That is to say, in this locality. ^ Encyc. Brit, 9th edit. vol. iii., Bhartpur. 132 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. rounded the city of Bhurtpoor, in spite of many efforts, which cost him several thou- sands of men. From that date up to the year 1826, this fortress was regarded by the natives of India as impregnable ; and, moreover, as being the very citadel of India, in which centred all their hopes of ultimate British overthrow. In its widest sense, "Bhurtpoor" signifies a district of about the same extent as Lincoln- shire, in which, at that time, were situated not only the large fortified city of the same name, but also the strongholds of Deig, Biana, Weer, and Combheer. But these latter depended for their integrity upon the great central fortress ; and when our troops entered them after that had fallen, they met with no resistance from the various garrisons. Thus, it was the great city itself that was actually " Bhurtpoor." And this place, although considerably strengthened after Lake's repulse, had been regarded as prac- tically impregnable for a very long period \ THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 33 not only so far back as the days of Suraj Mall, but long before that. " For centuries many other threatened states had, it was said, sent their stores to this stronghold of India for safety." ^ And this feeling of con- fidence was, naturally, not lessened after 1805. "Its imagined impregnability had been confirmed, in the opinion of the natives, by the repeated failures of the gallant army ■under Lord Lake. ' Oh, you may bully us ; but go and take Bhurtpore,' was a common expression among the petty chiefs and re- fractory rajahs we had frequently to reduce."^ ^ Lord Combermere's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 236. London, 1866. ^ Ibid., p. 237. Sir Thomas Seaton testifies to the same feeling among the peasantry. " As my regiment approached Agra," he says, in describing his march to Bhurtpoor, " escorting the guns from Meerut, we heard, 3s we passed through the various villages, the confident predictions muttered by the natives as- to the fate that awaited us. ' Ah, go to Bhurtpoor ; you won't come back ! ' said some, their wish, no doubt, father to the thought ; and one old wrinkled hag, rushing out of her house and raising her skinny arms in the air, exclaimed, ' Go to Bhurtpoor ; they'll split you up. Go and be 134 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. By 1825, the capture of this place had become necessary to British supremacy. At this period an opportunity had pre- sented itself for our interference. Two years previously, the old Rajah of Bhurtpoor had died childless, and the throne had been claimed by his brother and by the son of another brother. At first, the latter had to yield to his uncle, who, however, died within two years ; poisoned, it is supposed, by his nephew, who then placed himself upon the throne. One account states that he had entered Bhurtpoor at the head of a body of troops, and killed the [rajah ; another version is that he, at that time, slew the then regent^ the rajah having j previously been poisoned. At any rate, he made himself Rajah of Bhurtpoor, and seized the person of the acknowledged sovereign, a boy of five years old — son of the murdered rajah. The name of this usurper was ^Doorjun Saul, and he, killed, all of you ' " {From Cadet to Colonel, vol. i. chap. iii. London, 1866). THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 35 and all that dynasty, belonged to the race of the Jauts.^ ^ The version of the story given by Sir Thomas Seaton (From Cadet to Colonel, vol. i. chap, iii.) is to this eiTect. Sir David Ochterlony, acting for the Governor-General, had resolved to oust Doorjun Saul from the position he had gained, and, with this view, he assembled as large a force as he could, including a powerful train of artillery, and advanced towards Bhurtpoor. But the Governor- General, fearing "another war at a time when the re- sources of the empire were strained to the uttermost to maintain the contest with the Court of Ava," "gave orders for suspending the march of the troops, and as Doorjun Saul cunningly renounced his intention of usurping the throne, the soldiers were ordered to return to their cantonments." " No sooner were the troops dispersed, than Doorjun Saul, having succeeded in blind- ing the Governor-General's eyes, improved the opportunity of which, by the incapacity and want of judgment of his opponents, he was enabled to avail hirnself. He levied troops, laid in provisions, manufactured tons of powder and thousands of shot, repaired the ruinous walls of Bhurtpoor, cleared out the ditches, and strengthened all the works of that grand fortress ; then he entered into negotiations with all the independent princes ; and, enter- taining and enrolling all the malcontents and turbulent spirits in the surrounding districts who flocked to his standard, he raised the military ardour of the Jats [described by Seaton as " a peculiar caste of people who inhabit that country "] by tales of former conquest and 136 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. It does not appear that the British authorities were actuated by any high moral motives in interfering at this point. It is true that the boy-rajah and his father before him had been formally recognized by us as the rightful rulers of Bhurtpoor. But then, Bhurtpoor had never acknowledged our right to settle its affairs ; and, indeed, had dis- missed us very summarily from its presence. However, it was convenient for us to regard this Doorjun Saul as a " usurper," and to despatch an army against him, with the ostensible object of displacing him and re- establishing the authority of his youthful ■cousin. This, indeed, was actually done — to outward appearance. But there was a vital difference between the position of the new rajah and that of his predecessors. These had been independent princes, and their principality was the heart of India. But the hopes of future victory, and prepared to defend despe- rately the fortress that was considered by the whole of Hindostan as the impregnable bulwark against which the British power was destined to be broken." THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 137 reduction of Bhurtpoor made that province a dependency of the British Empire, and thenceforward its rajahs owned an allegiance that their predecessors would have scorned. There was a strong element of mockery in the " re-instatement " of this boy-rajah. His city was in the hands of the British, his territory was overrun by their troops, his own treasury was despoiled to the extent of ;^48o,ooo (not to speak of other forms of "loot"). And the British commander was enriched by ;^6o,ooo ; his officers and men receiving proportionate shares of the plunder. The way in which this was explained to be righteous cannot bear criticism.^ But any ^ On one page (p. 42) of the book from which I learn ithese facts (Lord Combermere's Memoirs, vol. ii.), this Doorjun Saul is spoken of as a "usurper," and it was because he was such that we dethroned him — or, rather, that is the reason we gave for our attack upon Bhurtpoor. But when all the wealth of Bhurtpoor fell to our disposalj kx. was not assigned to the young heir and his people. It all (or, at least, something like half a million in money .and spoil) went into our own pockets. . And this is the kind of defence we made : " The fact of Doorjun Sal 138 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. such virtuous explanation, of our attitude is- both hypocritical and unnecessary. The capture of Bhurtpoor was only a repetition of the old story of conquest and spoliation. Possibly the people of the Bhurtpoor territory having been in quiet possession of the throne, and ac- knowledged by all parties in the state as the maharajah, no individual either openly or secretly supporting the claims of Bulwunt Singh (the boy-rajah), naturally gave the former the full right to all the property in the fort, and deprived the latter of any claim which he might be supposed to have to it" (p. 130). This sentence is one continuous contradiction of our alleged motives through- out the affair. Our real motive can be seen from these words (p. 62) : "The capture of Bhurtpore was regarded by the princes of India as the test of our power, and a failure would have been the signal for a general outbreak and the formation of a powerful confederacy against us."' And when one reads that "on the 24th [January, 1826], Lord Combermere was able to report the complete sub- jugation of the whole of the Bhurtpore territory," one must understand that it was subdued, not in the interests of the young rajah, but of the British Empire. The succeeding sentence, which states that " the young rajah . . . was formally reinstated ... on the musnud, from which he had been temporarily driven," is not only a. flat contradiction of the argument advanced in the sentence given in italics above, but it is only half true. He was not reinstated. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 39 held different opinions as to who was their rightful rajah ; but that was a private affair. They were quite unanimous in resisting to the uttermost all attempts at British invasion. Bhurtpoor was not besieged in order to settle a question of succession : the struggle was a contest between its people and the successful invaders — with India and Britain looking on. It was on this important point, then, that the British forces converged, in the second week of the December of 1825 ; the right wing, with the commander-in-chief, advancing from Muttra, and the left wing marching from Agra. The composition of this army- was partly British, partly Native, and the total number of men was over 27,000, after- wards increased by reinforcements to about 29,000. On the nth of December, the investment of the city was completed ; the cordon of the besiegers being fourteen and a half miles in length, though on the western side this was little more than a chain of cavalry posts. 140 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. The position and appearance of the be- leaguered city is thus described : " Bhurtpore, situated about thirty miles to the west of Agra, stands in the midst of an almost level plain. The town, eight miles in circum- ference, is bounded on the western side by a ridge of low, bare, flat rocks, while every- where else its limits are dotted by a few isolated eminences of little height or size." That the surrounding country was not wholly characterized by the arid appearance sug- gested in Captain Field's sketch,^ as well as by the above sentence, may be seen from this description given by a young officer, who was at the time one of a reconnoitring party, then advancing through "the forest that lay between our camp and the town." "We entered a beautiful glade, fine soft grass under our feet, noble trees of all kinds on each side, and in such varieties and luxuriance as only a tropical country can show. In the distance, and at the end of the glade, rose ^ Introduced between pp. 180 and 181. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 141 a round tower, with some other loopholed building," — a corner of the fortifications of Bhurtpoor. "A part of the country sur- rounding the town," says another writer, "was covered by thick wood and jungle, the remainder by ruined villages, small gardens, and enclosures." Of the citadel and fortifications, some idea is gained from the plan attached to Lord Combermere's Memoirs;'^ as well as from Captain Field's sketch of the north-eastern corner of the ramparts. The account given in the Memoirs is as follows : — " The fortifications consist of a citadel and a continuous enceinte of thirty-five lofty mud bastions, connected by curtains, and in shape generally either semicircular or like the frustra of cones. On some of these bastions- there are cavaliers, and most of them are joined to the curtains by long narrow necks. Additions have been made to the enceinte ^ A representation of which is given between pp, 180 and 181. 142 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. since Lord Lake's time, and one bastion, called the Futteh Boorj, or Bastion of Vic- tory, was vauntingly declared to have been built with the blood and bones of those who fell in the last siege/ In many cases the ramparts were strengthened by several rows of trunks of trees, which were buried up- right in the mass of earth, and all of them were constructed of clay mixed with straw and cow-dung. This composition had been put on in layers, each of which was allowed to harden under the fierce sun before another layer was added. Such a mode of ^ " Had not the Jats at Bhurtpoor erected the Futteh Boorg, or Bastion of Victory, in which were built up the skulls and bones of the thousands of the dreaded gora log (white men) who had fallen in Lord Lake's vain attempt to storm the bulwark of Hindostan ? Was not the great and terrible Lony Ochter (Ochterlony), in whom they had the discernment to see their most formid- able enemy, dead? Were not their works higher and stronger than they had ever been before, and was not the Motee Jheel (lake), from the abundant rains sent by the Gods, full of water, which, when they had let it into the ditch, who would dare to attack them with any hope of success ? " (Seaton's From Cadet to Colonel). THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 43 •construction rendered any attempt to estab - lish a practicable breach almost impossible ; and we have seen that, from the shape of the bastions, enfilade was in many cases very ■difficult. The enceinte was surrounded by a broad and deep ditch, from twenty to thirty feet long [? broad]. This was, in fact, a nullah, or dry watercourse, which, running through stiff clay, had steep, almost per- pendicular, banks. One source of weakness, however, attached to this ravine, which arose from the numerous small watercourses leading into it, affording in many places an easy descent. Outside the nine gates were an equal number of semicircular earthworks." So much for the outer ramparts : there yet remained the interior stronghold, situated in the northern part of the town. " The citadel, <;ompletely commanding the body of the place, was of very great strength, rising to a height above the level of the ground of one hundred and fourteen feet. The ditch, a hundred and fifty feet broad, and fifty-nine 144 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. deep, had its counterscarp faced by a per- pendicular revetment of stone. From the bottom of the escarp rose a perpendicular stone wall of eighty feet, forming a fausse- braye, well flanked by forty semicircular towers. Above this arose another stone wall, seventy-four feet in height, and flanked by eleven conical bastions,^ whose total relief reached one hundred and seventy-three feet." In the centre of this citadel stood the rajah's palace and harem. " The strength of Bhurt- pore was further increased by the Moti J heel, a lake situated at a short distance from the place. This lake was bounded on the side of the town by a bund or embankment,, by cutting which, as was actually done during the former siege, not only, as we have said ^ Although the citadel was largely built of stone, it would seem that its towers and bastions were constructed much after the fashion of the ramparts that girdled the town, viz. of bricks, overlain with a thick casing of concrete. This is to be assumed from a reference made to "those huge mud mounds of the citadel," in Lord Combermere's Memoirs (vol. ii. p. 292). THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 45 before, could the ditch [the dry moat sur- rounding the enceinte] be filled, but also a great portion of the surrounding country placed under water." Finally, the fortifica- tions all round bristled with artillery, to furnish which " tons of powder and thousands of shot " had been duly provided ; and the heavier fire of the cannons and " jinjalls " could be supplemented by the rattle of count- less matchlocks; while, in case of a night attack, the whole line of the ramparts could be brilliantly and instantaneously lighted up with Bengal lights. And the men who defended these massive walls were twenty- five thousand strong, of warlike Jaut and Pathan strain, brave and resolute as their assailants, and confident in the memory of their past victories. That Combermere would conquer where Lake had failed, was by no means a foregone conclusion ; and the task before him was great indeed. These, briefly enough described, were the defences of Bhurtpoor. But, besides the L 146 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. armed inhabitants, who constituted the garri- son, the town which these wide walls enclosed contained a population of a hundred thousand people. Its appearance was presumably that of any other great Indian city at that date. One reads of verandahed houses, and gardens, and of the maharajah's palace, with its marble roof. One reads, above all, of its wealth : "As we before stated, a belief that incalculable trea- sure was concealed beneath the fortress of Bhurtpore generally prevailed in the East. For centuries many other threatened states had, it was said, sent their stores to this stronghold of India for safety. Its sovereigns, belonging to a predatory tribe [the Jauts], were also supposed themselves to have amassed plunder which they dared not ac- knowledge, and knew not how to expend." ^ It was even stated that the amount of treasure there amassed, " in specie and jewels," was "said to exceed ^30,000,000 sterling."^ It is at least certain that ;^48o,ooo ^ Combermere's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 236. '^ Ibid.,-^. 239. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. T47 (in money and valuables i fell into British hands, while we are told that " immense .treasures " were secretly carried off by the female inhabitants, who were allowed to pass out through the British lines as the invest- ment became closer. On another occasion, also, " a large body of the enemy's cavalry, laden, as is supposed, with treasure," sallied out of the fortress, and succeeded in forcing their way through the lines of the besiegers. Moreover, it was alleged that the men of one of our regiments had their musket- barrels filled with coins when they left the conquered city ; and there is every hint that " looting " went on on all sides, over and above what was formally acknowledged. " Amongst other plunder at Bhurtpore," writes Lord Combermere to his sister, " I have got some beautiful old armour, which was taken one hundred years ago by a Bhurtpore rajah from Agra, and belonged to the famous Ackbar." Still more interest- ing and suggestive is his mention of "a very '148 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. curious and handsome Bhurtpore book . . . much prized by all oriental scholars in Calcutta," which also formed a portion of the general's spoil. And none of this was in- cluded in the portion of ;^6o,ooo allotted to him. With a general so free from scruple in his mode of " reinstating " the displaced Rajah of Bhurtpoor, it is likely that a very large amount of unacknowledged treasure was distributed throughout the besieging army. Of the appearance of the garrison, we get an interesting and picturesque account from Sir Thomas Seaton, then a young cadet- receiving his " baptism of fire." In the following sentences, he is describing a re- connaisance made, in the earlier stage of the siege, by a " feeling party," under the direc- tion of General Nicholls, young Seaton being, of course, one of their number : — ..." We now formed into line, and, advancing through the forest, came all at once into the open, and Bhurtpoor burst on our view not three hundred THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 49 yards off. The scene was beautiful in the extreme. Two lofty massive towers on the left — one that of the celebrated Futteh Boorj (Bastion of Victory), built by the Jats to commemorate Lord Lake's repulse — seemed to form an angle of the fort, at a point from which a succession of equally massive bastions and curtains crossed our front, and con- tinued off to the right, until a projecting bastion, meeting a part of the forest, cut all further view. " The embrasures were armed with guns, and on the walls were assembled a great number of the garrison, standing or reclining in every sort of careless attitude. Some were sitting cross-legged, with their matchlocks over their knees ; others with their legs dangling over the walls ; while many, with their sword and shield in hand, or their matchlock over their shoulders, were standing upon the parapets, apparently talking and chatting at ease, little suspecting that an enemy was so near. " The walls were sharply and clearly defined against the blue and cloudless sky, and the sun at our backs threw into high relief the wild-looking soldiery on the parapets, in their quaint and picturesque costumes, lighting up the varied colours of their Eastern garb with a flood of glorious sun- shine, which made their brightly polished arms glitter like diamonds. "Several groups of men, whom we observed sitting together, were singing in chorus, beating ISO THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. time with their hands, and here and there along the walls a tall spear, stuck upright, bore a little pennon, the mark, probably, of some petty chief. "The overhanging boughs of the thick forest trees formed a shade which partially screened our dark uniforms, and for a minute or two we were unobserved. The reconnaissance was nearly com- pleted, when the beauty and interest of the scene were greatly enhanced by the appearance, from between the two bastions on our left, of a clump of horsemen, prancing and caracolling, each with a bright matchlock over his shoulder, or a long spear in his hand. " On they came bounding towards us, till their progress was arrested by our horse artillery, who, quick as thought, unlimbered, and in a few seconds sent a couple of shots right through the capering steeds and horsemen, scattering them right and left, and unhorsing many of the best riders among them. " When the men on the walls saw the flash and heard the sound of our guns, there was, in the first moment of surprise, a tremendous hubbub ; then down came a perfect shower of shot and grape and matchlock-balls. The enemy had evidently laid their guns for the edge of the forest and been practising at it, for almost as quickly as I can write the word, eleven of our men were knocked over, and the whole force was exposed to so sharp a fire THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 151 that General Nicholls ordered us to disperse and shelter ourselves wherever we could." ^ The " quaint and picturesque costumes " of the garrison, and " the varied colours of their Eastern garb," are casually referred to in an account of the grand assault: "Alarmed at the event [the firing of the minesj, the garrison crowded the angle of the north-east bastion, and could be seen, dressed either in white or brightly coloured garments, some waving their swords in defiance, others beckoning eagerly for support." ^ In Captain Field's picture, however, the very same people are represented as wearing blue uni- forms, which is not consistent with the expression' "white or brightly coloured gar- ments." But the defenders of the north- east bastion, eight hundred in number, were Pathans,^ and, whatever their attire, it cannot be regarded as exemplifying the fashions of ^ From Cadet to Colonel, vol. i. chap. iii. London, 1866. ^ Combermere's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 113. ' Ibid., p. 125. 152 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. the J^auis. Thus, the picturesque soldiers of whom Seaton speaks may have differed very considerably from those Pathans, as regards their costume. And the former were pre- sumably Jauts ; those of them, at any rate, that manned the battlements of the Futteh Boorj, since that was the Jau^s "Bastion of Victory." So also must have been the cavalry spoken of by Seaton in the above passage ; who, it may be supposed, resembled — or were identical with — the Jaut horsemen described by him on a previous occasion, in these words : " Amongst the enemy's horse- men were numbers who were clad in suits of chain-mail, through "which our lancers could not drive their lances, but which the bayonets of the 14th went through as if it had been paper, the fine point of the bayonet and the heavy weight of the musket over- coming all the resistance of the finely tempered armour." Not at all a bad picture of Saracenic knighthood must those Eastern horsemen have presented, with their chain- THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 153 armour, pennoned lances, swords, and shields ; nor was the long matchlock on their shoulders the least out of keeping with the term " Saracen." ^ For the use of firearms is quite a modern affair in Europe, when com- pared with Asia ; and the " Saracens " (a somewhat vague expression) are understood to have taught the manufacture of gun- powder, and of artillery of all kinds, to the ruder races of the West. These descriptions are here quoted because they relate to the people with whom we are most concerned in these pages — the Jauts of Bhurtpoor. To what extent the people of that city were of other lineage is not known to the writer. But the ruling race had for ^ Two years later. Lord Combermere received from the Rajah of Pattialah "a complete suit of chain-armour, with casque and gauntlets of steel, inlaid with gold, a sword and shield, a bow and arrows, and a dagger." It is likely that the " beautiful old armour " which he carried off from Bhurtpoor "amongst other plunder," was of this description ; and that many such were then in daily use in that stronghold of the East. 154 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. a long time been that of the Jauts, and as they figure particularly in the initial act of the defence of Bhurtpoor, so also are they visible to the very last scene of the struggle. Mention has been made of. a lake situated near the town on its western side, which communicated, by means of a canal, with the moat which surrounded Bhurtpoor. Both moat and canal were kept dry, except when a siege was threatened ; and then, by cutting the embankment of the lake, these were filled, and even much of the surrounding land placed under water. The Jaut cavalry were just in the act of cutting this embank- ment, prior to the investment, when a detachment of horse belonging to Lord Combermere's left wing came upon the scene, and the enemy, taken by surprise, had to give way, after an imperfect resist- ance. Had the advance of the British forces been delayed by a few hours, the task before Lord Combermere would have been ten times as difficult. Because the walls of the THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 55 fortress would only yield to mining;^ and, moreover, a wide stretch of water and swamp would have prevented the besieging forces from making any near approach to the fortress, had the waters of the .lake been let loose a few hours sooner. The details of the siege are so well de- scribed elsewhere, that there seems little excuse for repeating them here. On both sides there were brave men and skilful warriors ; but even Bhurtpoor had to yield at last to the persistent and masterly efforts of Combermere.^ The struggle began on "^ "They present a strange and gigantic concrete of earth even to-day," says Sir William Gomm, writing from Bhurtpoor in 185 1, "manifesting how proof it was against battery to any extent, and only to be disturbed by the mine." ^ A story is told in the Memoirs which is characteristic both of the great duke and the leader whom he chose. When an expedition against Bhurtpoor had been decided upon in the year 1825, the Directors of the East India Company sent a deputation to the Duke of Wellington, " in order that he might indicate to them a commander likely to accomplish what even the victorious Lake had been unable to effect. In answer to their inquiries as to 156 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. the morning of the loth of December, 1825, when the Jauts were foiled in their attempt to let loose the waters of the lake. On the following day the investment of the fortress was completed ; the left wing, under General Nicholls, having then joined with the other division, which, with the Commander-in-Chief, had come up on the loth. During the next nine days, the time of the British commander was taken up in examining the ground and maturing his plan of attack ; the troops being employed in reconnoitring, in throwing up defensive works, and in making the neces- sary gabions and fascines (some of which whom his Grace considered the most fitting person, he replied — " ' You can't do better than have Lord Combermere. He's the man to take Bhurtpore ; ' or words of a similar purport. "'But,' urged the deputation, 'we don't think very highly of Lord Combermere. In fact, we do not consider him a man of any great genius.' " ' I don't care a d — n about his genius, I tell you he's the man to take Bhurtpore ! ' exclaimed the duke to his astonished auditors." And the sequel showed him to be right. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 57 figure conspicuously in the foreground of Captain Field's sketch). A system of sig- nalling was also established between the various posts forming the investment, and a line was formed to enable due notice to be given of the departure of the frequent bodies of cavalry which the garrison of the neighbouring fortified town of Kombheer sent out to the assistance of their beleaguered friends. These mounted parties, we are told, " interrupted our communications, carried off our horses, cut off our camp followers, and generally did much damage."^ Skirmishes with these outsiders were thus of frequent occurrence, and the garrison of Bhurtpoor were ever on the watch to harass their foe, not only by the fire of their heavy guns 1 They are spoken of {Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 55) as "flying parties of J a/ horsemen;" but, although this word_/«/is frequently used by the same writers, it seems that Jat is intended, but is misspelt by a clerical or printer's error. It is obvious that this is the case when Khoosial Singh, brother-in-law of the usurping rajah, is styled (p. 118) " the gallant /«/." 158 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. and lighter firearms from the walls of their fortress, but also by means of flying parties of horsemen and sharpshooters. In order to deceive the enemy, the British general continued, as long as possible, to feign that the assault was to be made from the south-west, where Lake had vainly made the attempt. And, with this expectation, that portion of the fortifications had been greatly strengthened. But when, on the 23rd of December, the cordon of investment was drawn tighter, and our troops seized and occupied two positions on the eastern side of the city, not eight hundred yards from its ramparts, then the real design of the besiegers was suspected. The two captured positions were, a small village and — about eight hundred yards further north — the garden of the ex-rajah, beside which were a ruined temple and a flat-roofed house, thenceforth the point of observation of the British general. On these two positions, then, a heavy fire was directed from the THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 59 walls, during the whole of this 23rd of December. This, however, did little harm, as the guns on the walls could not be sufficiently depressed. Of much more im- portance were the bodies of cavalry and sharpshooters which were sent out to harass the defenders of this newly acquired position. " To check these incursions, a rough breast- work of cotton bales was hastily set up, under shelter of which two six-pounder guns and a twelve-pounder howitzer opened on the enemy, and, aided by the fire of some Goorkha skirmishers, soon cleared the esplanade." In the evening, the first parallel was traced, at a distance of six hundred yards from the walls, and stretching from the front of the captured village to the ruined temple beside the garden of the former rajah. But the defenders of Bhurtpoor never lost an opportunity of harassing their assailants. The "great bundles of brushwood and bottomless baskets" (as the Bhurtpooreans styled the " fascines and gabions " of military l6o THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. phraseology), which formed the rudiments of the besiegers' batteries, offered continual " practice " to the artillery of the defenders. Seaton tells of his first experience af this on a certain moonlight night, when he and his company were employed in the construc- tion of the left battery. A heavy fire had just been opened on them from the walls. " I was wondering," says the young cadet, " what mischief made the gabions dance about as they did ; and, seeing some of the men sheltering themselves in the trench after laying down their loads, I was walking up to see if any one was amongst the gabions, when the motive-power was suddenly re- vealed to my weak mind by a large jinjall- ball (jinjall is a wall piece), which, as it went on its errand of destruction, caught the nearest gabion and knocked it over. As two or three more balls came whistling past my ears, I thought it prudent to walk over to the trench, and get sharply under cover. ..." THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. l6l Nor was the night which followed the forward movement of 23rd December allowed to pass without another attempt to oust us from our new position. For a sortie from the fortress was planned and partly carried out; but no actual engagement took place, the enemy retiring on discovering that we were in force. On the morning of the 24th, the bombard- ment began in earnest ; the initiative being taken by the besiegers, who, from two batteries completed during the night, opened fire with cannon and howitzer upon the ramparts, the citadel, and the town. And the defenders could do little in the way of retaliation, as, owing to the nearness of our batteries, the guns upon the walls of Bhurt- poor could not be depressed sufficiently to cause us any great injury. The havoc wrought by our shells among the defenceless townspeople was great. The compilers of Lord Comberniere's Memoirs think it neces- sary to offer some apology for his action in 1 62 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. this detail ; but it is hardly necessary to repeat these apologies to a generation which has tolerated the bombardments of Paris and of Alexandria. Moreover, the effects of these casual bombshells in Bhurtpoor can- not have equalled in condensed butchery the results of the mines which were sprung on the day of the final assault, to be shortly noticed. But, so long as war is war, it is absurd to distinguish between one kind of slaughter and another. With regard to the bombs thrown in among the streets of Bhurt- poor, however, it is only right to notice that Lord Combermere gave the Jaut rajah every opportunity to save the women and_ children ; and on the 24th " all the women not be- longing to the royal family " (a reservation made, apparently, by the rajah himself) passed out from the city and through our lines, 'without molestation. On which occa- sion, it is said, they took with them a great quantity of the treasures of Bhurtpoor. An additional instalment of treasure was also, it THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 63 is supposed, borne off on the following day ; when a large body of cavalry broke out from the fortress, forced their way through our lines, and escaped out into the open country.^ Christmas Day was celebrated by "a heavy fire of shot, shrapnel, and shell," by which " much damage " was done to the fortifications of Bhurtpoor ; and on the fol- lowing day our fire was so heavy as to rsilence completely the opposing guns. On the 27th, the second parallel was begun, at a distance of two hundred and fifty yards ^ On the night of the 27th,' also, an attempt of the same kind was made, but without success. On that evening, between eight and nine o'clock, two hundred horsemen emerged from the Uttal-Bund gate, at the southern point of Bhurtpoor, "and after feeling the picquet on the Anah road, fell back under the walls of the fort until eleven o'clock, when they endeavoured to force their way by the Kombeer road, and between the villages of Murwarra and Bussie. They were obliged to retire in the direction of the fort, with the loss of thirty ■or forty men killed, fifteen wounded, and one hundred and seven prisoners ; ten or twelve succeeded in forcing 4;heir way through a part of the camp." 164 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. from the moat. And on the 28th, the British coil was drawn still closer, our " approaches " being on that day within forty- yards of the moat. So near were our batteries at this point, and so galling was our fire, that, on the next day, an envoy came out on behalf of six hundred of the garrison, who alleged that they had been' recruited in our provinces, and now desired to be allowed to pass out through our lines. This offer, however, came to nothing, as they would not accept the conditions proposed ta them — that they should lay down their arms, and become prisoners of war. But, in spite of these waverers, and of the horsemen who had escaped a few days pre- viously, the bulk of the twenty-five thousand that constituted the garrison of Bhurtpoor,. fought on bravely to the end.^ And, at this ^ We read in Lord Combermere's Memoirs (vol. ii. p. 85) that, on the loth of January, "a flag of protection was hoisted for the guidance of such of the inhabitants as might choose to leave the town. About seventy-two of the garrison had, during the preceding twenty-four THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 65 time, the end was still three weeks off. Indeed, this siege would have ended as Lake's did, had our troops depended only on the work wrought by our breaching batteries. These alone would never have made a way for the British troops. " Proof against battery to any extent, and only to be disturbed by the mine," was the verdict afterwards pronounced upon the " strange and gigantic concrete of earth " that encircled the city of Bhurtpoor. And this is the evidence given by one of those who fought in the left wing, under Nicholls : " The left breaching battery, which was armed with fourteen guns, opened fire, I think, on the 28th December ; but after battering the curtain for a week, it was found impracticable to make a breach. The walls being of tough tenacious clay, which a shot would enter, pounding that particular spot to dust, but hours, either surrendered or endeavoured to escape." Defections such as these, however, must have been comparatively few. 1 66 THE SIEGE OB BHURTPOOR. leaving the whole surrounding part uninjured as before, a lot of the upper part of the rampart came down, forming a fine slope of dust and clods, ready to deaden the force of any shots fired into it. After the place was taken, I lived for a week in a garden just behind the curtain that had been battered, and saw with my own eyes that there then was no practicable breach. I also remarked that the men who were digging out the shot could with difficulty ascend the battered place, even after much had been dug down. Our tactics, therefore, were changed." ^ "On the 6th [January, 1826], it was de- cided that the results of the breaching batteries were not such that reliance could be placed on them alone. Lord Comber- mere, therefore, resolved to give time for the action of the mines." ^ The making of these mines had been commenced on the last ^ Seaton's From Cadet to Colonel, vol. i. chap. iii. ^ Lord C ombermere's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 79. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 6/ day of 1825, and the work had gone on con- tinuously since then. Nor were the enemy idle, in this respect, either. And the two hostile forces were busy as moles, mining and countermining, during the rest of the siege. But the defenders were out- manoeuvred by their foes. Although Combermere was now relying wholly on this arm of his service for the final victory, yet the artillery duel continued throughout the remainder of the struggle. A passage of Seaton's, relating to this time, deserves quotation here : — "On the night of the 7th of January, just after dusk, a shot from the fort blew up one of our tumbrils proceeding to the trenches with powder. The fire was communicated to one of our magazines, containing 20,000 lbs. of powder, which instantly exploded, and set fire to a quantity of engineers" stores. The awful crash turned us all out, and we went to the front to see what was going on> As our camp was on a rather rising ground, we could just see the line of the walls of Bhurtpoor over the tops of the forest-trees, and when we came to the front we at once perceived a tremendous 1 68 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. blaze from the burning stores ; and the smoke being blown aside by a gentle breeze, the whole line of fortifications was seen brilliantly lighted up with large Bengal lights, evidently prepared against a night attack. At the same time, every gun that would bear on our trenches opened fire, and many that could not joined the cannonade, just for the sake of the row they made. Every jinjall and matchlock was pointed at us, and a heavy fire was maintained all along the walls. It was a mag- nificent scene, the red flames of the burning stores lighting up the forest, and the Bengal lights burnt by the enemy making the long line of fortification shine like silver. The broad blaze of the guns, and the rapid sparkling of musketry, formed a display of fireworks such as I have seldom seen equalled. "Our astonishment was great at the silence of our batteries, which, as we afterwards learned, was purposely maintained, with the view of saving our men. When the enemy got tired with their exer- tions, our mortar batteries began to speak out, first one shell being seen in the air, then two, and then, whole flights, bursting in the town with terrible precision. All night this deadly rain of shells continued, with a result which might be conjectured from the numerous conflagrations we witnessed, The fire had burst out in two or three places at once, and in the confusion which this must bave occasioned within the walls, two brass 13-inch THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 69 mortars arrived from Delhi, and opened upon the town. The first shell was aimed at the Rajah's Palace, and fell right into the marble enclosure on the top, where the Rajah was at the time in •company with his wives. It went crashing through four thick stone floors, and burst in a room on the ground, to the terrible alarm, as we heard after- -wards, of the ladies who witnessed it." ^ This kind of warfare, then, was continued to the end, although the mining operations proceeded without intermission. Whenever it was thought that they might prove efficient, -either in silencing the enemy's fire at those points where it was peculiarly harassing, or by effecting breaches in those obstinate con- crete walls, additional batteries were from time to time erected by the British. And the heavy fire thus kept up must have wrought great damage. We learn from the Memoirs that " one thousand eight hundred and eight shot and shell were fired " from -our lines on the 13th of January; that "on ihe 15th the batteries continued firing as ^ From Cadet to Colonel, vol. i. chap. iii. lyo THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. usual, and expended 1466 rounds of ammu- nition in the course of the twenty-four hours;" and that "on the i6th the batteries, fired somewhat more heavily, discharging 1894 shot and shells." However, this could not have gone on much longer, because the final instalment of ammunition from the arsenal at Agra arrived in our camp on the i6th ; and after that "there was not a single eighteen-pounder gun to be obtained higher up than Allahabad." Sorties were, of course, made by the besieged at every available opportunity. On the 1 2th of January, a force of about fifteen hundred came out to attack our trenches, but these soon retired, seeing that our position was too strong. Two days later, a less, vigorous attempt was easily foiled by a portion of General Nicholls's force. Other outbreaks had already taken place in Decem- ber,^ one on Christmas Day, when a body of cavalry succeeded in cutting its way through ^ Referred to at p, 163, ante. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 171 our lines ; and another on the night of 27th December, though in this instance the Bhurtpooreans were nearly all captured or slain. * In some cases, these sorties appear to have been made in the hope of inserting a wedge in our cordon, which, if pushed home by reinforcements from the garrison, would have divided our forces and opened up com- munication with the still-unconquered pro- vincials of Bhurtpoor, who from their fortresses of Deeg, Biana, Weer, and Kombheer, con- tinued to despatch flying parties to harass our rear and the weaker parts of our lines. And even if some of the Bhurtpoor garrison were actuated by the most selfish motives in thus trying to escape, their efforts, if success- ful, would promote the same end. But all attempts of this sort, whether from within Bhurtpoor, or from the open country, were unavailing. Although the continuous cannonade from the fortifications, as well as that from the British batteries, formed a very important i 72 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. feature of the siege, the mines, as already- stated, constituted the key of the situation. This fact had now been fully grasped by the British commander ; and no time was lost in pushing on the works. While working in their galleries beneath the counterscarp of the moat, on one occasion, the British miners and their opponents met face to face ; and there being at that time only two of the enemy's miners in their gallery, they were easily secured, and the gallery itself (eighty feet in length) appropriated. This was on the 5th of January. On the 8th, three of these mines were exploded, " and an excellent descent into the ditch was thus formed." Another mine had been sprung on the previous day beneath the north-east bastion, but with little effect. Probably the captured gallery was not one of those blown up on the 8th, for we read that on the follow- ing night " it was determined to dislodge the enemy from a scarp gallery which our sappers had previously seized, but from which they THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. ly^ ^ had been compelled to retire." This was done by a volunteer party of eleven, who, entering the moat by the breach made on the preceding day, "cautiously approached the mouth of the gallery, carrying with them 350 lbs. of powder. On coming near to the spot, they heard the enemy's miners con- versing merrily together inside, happily un- conscious of the fate which awaited them. Forbearance, however, can find no place in that most ruthless of all modes of warfare — mining. The powder was laid, the fuse fired, and in an instant the gallery, with all its occupants, ceased to be." Two days later, the British general sent a small party of Goorkhas to dislodge the enemy's miners, whom he perceived (no doubt, from his point of observation on the flat-roofed house) at work in the moat. The Goorkhas got into the moat, unseen by the enemy, but as they neared the gallery where the miners were at work, their presence was discovered. Although the Goorkhas 174 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. only numbered seventeen, and the Bhurt- pooreans were estimated at sixty, the latter fled hastily along the ditch, and through the gate (? the Soorajpore Gate) into the city ; three of their number having fallen before the fusils of the Goorkhas. These little Goorkhas (then, as now, among the very bravest men in our Indian army) distinguished themselves greatly on another occasion. It was rumoured that the breach made by General Nicholls's guns had subse- quently been so trenched and defended, that, when the day of the assault should come, the onset of his troops would thus be altogether checked. Accordingly, a forlorn hope of about a dozen men, of whom four or five were Goorkhas (the rest being British, and including two officers), volunteered to ascer- tain the truth. In broad daylight, and with no scrap of shelter, this gallant little band advanced towards the rampart, and struggled up the almost perpendicular ascent, over mud, dust, and stone. And, although the walls TH E SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 175 above them were bristling with the spears and bayonets of the garrison, they were actually successful in gaining the summit un- perceived and unmolested. Their sudden and unlooked-for appearance here amazed and confounded the Bhurtpooreans, who at once took them for the leaders of an attacking column. Before they could get over their surprise, this handful of heroes, with the most <;harming audacity, had given them a volley, delivered at the distance of only a few yards. And this they followed up with a shower of stones and dirt. But they did not remain long in this perilous position. A brief but comprehensive survey enabled them to take in the state of matters at this point of the fortification ; and then they turned, and fled rapidly down the steep banks of the breach. Had their retreat not been covered by a well- directed and constant fire of musketry from the trenches, which met the Bhurtpooreans the instant they showed themselves above the ramparts, the little band would have been 176 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. at once annihilated. All but one, however,, succeeded in gaining the British lines in safety ; and not a moment too soon. For the garrison, " exasperated at their own loss,, the escape of the party, and the impudence of the attempt, kept up such a tremendous discharge of all arms, matchlock, ginjal, cannon, etc., that for two hours not a man's head dare appear above the trench, unless he designed to be drilled like a colander." In this dashing affair, the chief actors were our own countrymen, but the historian is par- ticular to note, here and elsewhere, the cool- ness and bravery of the Goorkhas.^ There is no room to refer at length to the other incidents of the siege : how one of our artillerymen deserted to the enemy, and,, knowing Lord Combermere's daily move- ments, succeeded in sending a cannon-ball into the room he occupied in the house beside the rajah's garden ; or how hopefulness and even merriment reigned in the British camp, 1 These extracts Sre from Lord Combermere's Memoirs. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 77 while from day to day despondency began to settle down upon the city of the Jauts. Nor can one speak particularly of the correspond- ence between Lord Combermere and the Rajah and Ranee, with reference to the safety of the women and children ; although it may be noted that apparently Persian was the language employed. A certain degree of almost friendly intercourse between the two belligerents seems suggested by the fact that, on one occasion at any rate, an amicable con- versation took place outside the walls of the fortress between a native " captain of the gate " and one of our officers. And, when the Rajah of Bhurtpoor (Doorjun Saul) learned that his followers had killed and then mutilated a British soldier, whom they had taken prisoner in the neighbouring jungle, we are told that " he sternly rebuked the per- petrators of this dastardly act." ^ ^ " So exasperated were the men of the European regiments on hearing of the fate of their comrade, that previous to the assault they took a solemn oath over a dram of spirits to spare neither man, woman, nor child, N 178 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. The mining operations continued to be pressed on incessantly, until their work was done. On the 1 2th of January, the two chief points of attack, the north-east angle of the fort and the " long-necked " bastion that faced General Nicholls's position, were each com- menced upon. "On the i6th, two mines exploded in the long- necked bastion, brought down the thick outer casing of clay, and ex- posed and partly destroyed the brick core of the bastion on which the guns had rested. The guns came down with the mass of clay, and in a very short time our artillery de- molished and finished the brick core. Next morning we found the breach partially re- paired with large logs of wood, trunks of trees, and clay ; but before night these repairs were destroyed by our batteries." ^ " On the 1 7th, the mine under the angle when they took the place." Which was, no doubt, a very chivalrous and heroic resolve. The Memoirs state, at the same place (vol. ii. p. 76) : " It is asserted, though without any proof, that they kept their word." ^ From Cadet to Colonel. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. I 79 of the north-east bastion, or cavaher, as it was termed, having been completed, was charged with ten thousand pounds of powder — with one exception, the largest charge ever used by our engineers — and had a train of three hundred feet leading under the ditch." ^ This mine was intended to make the chief breach in the walls of Bhurtpoor, and it was to be sprung on the following day, simulta- neously with two others. The explosion of these mines was to be the signal for the general assault. The plan of attack, briefly stated, was this. On our extreme right, or the northern side of the town, a detachment under Colonel Dela- main was to force an entrance by the breach previously made by our artillery on the west side of the Jungeenah Gate.^ To render this breach more accessible, a mine (one of the ^ Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 95. " The position of Colonel Delamain's force will be seen by a reference to Captain Field's sketch, and to the plan ; the Jungeenah Gate (though not visible in the l8o THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. two subordinate mines just referred to) had been duly laid, and was to be sprung just before the assault. The main column ^ was that under General Reynell, who acted immediately under the eye of the Commander-in-Chief, and his assault was to be delivered against the north- east, or Pathan bastion. It is this attack that forms the foreground of Captain Field's picture (and is marked " B " on the plan.) General Nicholls's command was of almost picture) being on the hither side of these troops. This picture of the Storming of Bhurtpoor is a reduced copy of a coloured lithograph, " printed and published at the Asiatic Lithographic Press, Park Street, Chowringhee, Calcutta, 1827." The original sketch was "drawn on the spot by Captain G. E. F. Field," and, if it is not highly artistic, may be accepted as a faithful rendering of the scene. The colouring of the original lithograph has been reproduced in this miniature copy. The only liberty I have taken with the picture is the addition of notes explaining the four separate assaults ; and the portraiture tallies so closely with the written description and the plan in Lord Combermere's Memoirs that there is hardly room for error in these notes. ^ Of which Delamain's force was a detachment. THE SIEGE OF BHVRTPOOR. l8l equal importance to that of Reynell. His forces were to advance against the famous " long-necked " bastion, but on entering the moat, a detachment under Colonel Wilson was to turn to the right, and to carry by escalade an outwork (marked " C " on the plan). Nicholls's main force was to gain an entrance through the breach in the "long- necked " bastion, which had been made by the mine sprung on the i6th. This assault, as well as Colonel Wilson's, is delineated in the picture (and is marked " D " on the plan). A subsidiary portion of Nicholls's column was also to attack the gun-breach on our extreme left (at the point marked " E " on the plan, which, in the picture, is hidden from view by the " long-necked " bastion). Thus the end was at hand. The explosion of the i6th had cleared the way for Nicholls, and the other three mines were ready to be fired. All the necessary instructions had been given by the night of the 1 7th, and due care 152 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. was taken to prevent the besieged from apprehending that the crisis was reached. In silence and darkness, the storming-parties filed into the trenches at an early hour on the morning of the i8th ; and when day broke every man was in his place, though not visible to the enemy- — strict orders having been given that not a head nor a weapon should be allowed to project from the shelter of the parapets. We are told by Seaton that these precautions were successful, and that the garrison had no idea an assault was imminent ; but in the Memoirs we read that our designs were suspected (perhaps reported by spies), in evidence of which a heavy fire was opened from the battlements at daybreak, lasting, with little intermission, until about eight o'clock in the morning. This was only replied to by our batteries, the stormers remaining passively hidden in the trenches. Shortly after eight o'clock, the announcement was made that all was ready. As already stated, the explosion of the THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 83 three mines was the pre-arranged signal for the general assault. The principal mine was to shatter the front of the Pathan bastion ; and of the two lesser mines, one had been laid so as to widen the breach near the Jungeenah Gate, while the other was to blow in the counterscarp on the west side of the north-eastern angle. These two mines were the first to be sprung ; and their explosion brought the startled garrison to the walls of the north-east bastion. These — eight hun- dred Pathan warriors — were now seen, " dressed either in white or brightly coloured garments, some waving their swords in defiance, others beckoning eagerly for sup- port." It was under their bastion that the great mine had been laid, and the stormers hung back for the explosion of those ten thousand pounds of powder. The pause was brief. Suddenly, the front of the bastion heaved, the ground below trembled as with an earthquake, and then, with a dull, heavy roar, " up went the mine, throwing high into 184 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. the air heads, legs, and arms, blocks of timber, and masses of masonry and clay, enveloping all that part of the town and trenches with a thick cloud of smoke and dust." With that portion of the bastion, three hundred of its brave defenders had been torn into fragments. The falling debris had killed or wounded a score of men in our trenches, also ; but, as soon as the momentary cloud of smoke and dust that overhung them had cleared away, the troops of the main column rushed forward to the breach, amid the cheers of their comrades. Immediately afterwards, fired with the example thus set to them, and with- out waiting for the word of command, the troops under Nicholls sprang out of the trenches, and, in the midst of a terrible storm of grape and musketry that burst from the ramparts, and from "those huge mud mounds of the citadel," dashed across the open ground and up into the breach made in the " long-necked " bastion. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 85 As Reynell's leading brigade ^ struggled stubbornly up the shattered bastion, stumbling over stones and clods and the mangled bodies of their foes, the incessant volleys from the battlements struck down many of their number. But they pressed bravely on, and in a few minutes the regimental colours of the 14th were waving from the summit. The point, however, was not yet won. For now the valiant men who garrisoned this bastion, recovering from the shock and con- fusion of this sudden and destructive outburst, rushed fiercely against the invaders. So stern and resolute was their defence, that of the five hundred men who met our attack on this bastion, only seventy were alive when the struggle was over. Driven slowly backward by the advancing bayonets of the British, they contested every available point, "their gunners particularly fighting with such devo- ^ " Composed of four companies of H.M.'s 14th Regi- ment, the s8th Native Infantry, and one hundred Ghoorkas of the Nusseeree battalion." 1 86 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. tion that at the close of the day they were found almost to a man lying dead, with their swords still firmly grasped, round the guns they had so well served." But our troops — British, Sepoys, and Ghoorkas — pressed irre- sistibly on, driving them along the ramparts to the right. Reynell's second brigade, led by Major Bishop (the first was led by Major Everard),^ had followed close on the heels of the first. And as the first brigade had, according to the pre-arranged plan, turned to the right hand, on gaining the summit, so did the second brigade fight their way towards the left. Here they had work to do in silencing an outwork from which a telling fire was being directed upon the left main column, under Nicholls, then ascending the steep breach in the face of the " long-necked " bastion. ^ Both of these brigades were deprived of their com- manding officers at the outset, as Brigadier McCombe, of the first, and Brigadier Patton, of the second brigade, were struck down by the debris falling into the trenches after the explosion of the great mine- THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 87 Eventually, Major Bishop's forces became amalgamated with General Nicholls's division. The outwork just spoken of was that which Colonel Wilson's party had been directed to take by escalade.* Here a small breach had been made by our guns, but the ascent was so abrupt that only Wilson and a few of his men gained the top (presumably, about the time of Bishop's arrival there), and the rest of his command turned back, and followed Nicholls's forces up the breach in the "long- necked " bastion. In the face of a tremendous fire from ramparts and from citadel, the main body of Nicholls's column, led by Brigadier Edwards, had charged bravely up the breach, and although the ascent was steep, and many of their number were struck down as they ^ Wilson's detachment was headed by pioneers carry- ing six ladders, made of bamboo, and " lined with stout canvas, stretched taut." Such ladders were used by other parties of the assailants, the steepness of the ascent rendering them necessary, especially at those points where the breaches had only been made by our artillery. 1 88 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. climbed, they maintained the most admirable discipline, not firing a shot until they reached the summit. In a few minutes they were masters of the bastion ; and then, advancing rapidly along the "neck" that joined it to the ramparts, they forced the main body of their opponents to retreat down into the town by the connecting " ramp," the re- mainder being driven along the ramparts to the left. It was at this juncture that Major Bishop's forces effected a union with them. The assailants then pursued the enemy along the " terre-plein " to the left, but in doing so were subjected to a heavy fusillade from the adjoining houses, which thinned their ranks, and cost them the life of their brigadier (Edwards), with whom fell five other officers. But Nicholls's second brigade, under Fagan, had followed up the charge of the leading brigade, and, descending into the town, cleared the neighbouring houses of the musketeers, who were fusillading the right flank of the first brigade. And Nicholls's THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 89 reserve brigade, under Adams, had entered the town by the Agra Gate,^ and was now dispersing the enemy in the adjoining streets. The fortunes of the attacking party on Nicholls's extreme left are not followed by the writers of the Memoirs, but their success or failure was immaterial, since their comrades all around were everywhere driving the enemy before them. The only other assault remaining to be noticed is that of Colonel Delamain's detach ment, directed against the breach on the west side of the Jungeenah Gate. It will be re- membered that the mine beneath this breach was the first to be fired ; and immediately afterwards Delamain led his men to the attack. In spite of a desperate opposition, he succeeded in forcing the enemy to retreat towards the Jungeenah Gate, where a terrible fate awaited them. Here a narrow street led ' There is no gate specially styled the "Agra Gate." Probably the Muttra Gate, on the left of Nicholls's position, which was presumably an exit for Agra, is the one thus denoted in the Memoirs. I go THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. from the gate into the town, but on a level lower than the adjoining ramparts by sixty- feet. The only descent into this defile was by steep flights of steps. And just as the Jauts retreating before Delamain reached the western edge of this descent, those whom Everard and his column were driving before them had arrived at its eastern side. Stand- ing at bay on either side of this chasm, the Jauts " fought with the fury of desperation ; but our men were not to be withstood, and, first plunging their bayonets into the bodies of their opponents and then firing off their pieces, they pushed the hapless foe into the abyss below." " In about ten minutes the whole party, two hundred in number [Seaton says ' many hundreds '], lay wedged at the bottom of this awful gulf — a helpless, groan- ing, bleeding, burning mass." "The uniforms they wore being of cotton cloth, well padded with cotton wool, and quilted, these, as our men fired close, caught fire and burnt like tinder. Many, too, were set on fire by their THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. igT own slow-matches. Altogether it was a terrible scene." Several brave attempts were made by our men to rescue them, a task rendered dangerous by the frequent explo- sions of their matchlocks and ammunition, while, in one instance, the rescuer was nearly killed by the man he was trying to save. A very few, " some three or four, less jammed in than the rest," were extricated, but the remainder were left to their fate."^ By this time Bhurtpoor was virtually in the hands of the British. The various storming-parties had captured every bastion, leaving in each, and at each gateway, a sufficient defensive force, while the others traversed the streets of the town. There was much street- fighting to do, and the enemy, still holding the larger brick houses in the town, succeeded in shooting down a considerable number of our men before they ^ " Two hours later," says the Memoirs, " an officer of the staff repassed the same spot ; he found nothing ' but a confused mass of burnt and burning bodies.' " 192 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. could be dislodged. A strong force still held the citadel, and until it could be cap- tured our victory was not assured. The surrender of this stronghold, the same after- noon, is thus described to us in Combermere's Memoirs :■ — " After mounting the breach as described,^ Lord Combermere and his staff proceeded to the Jungee- nah Gate. From thence, after rescuing a few of the poor wretches who lay there roasting in their smouldering garments, and receiving intelligence of the success of the right column, he entered the town, and came out on the glacis of the citadel just after the death of Khoosial Singh and the slaughter of his followers.^ Hearing that a white flag had ^ The Commander-in-Chief had accompanied Reynell's troops up the breach in the Pathan bastion. ^ " Major Hunter, 4i.st Native Infantry, at the head of some Sepoys and Europeans," had, a short time pre- viously, followed up some of the retreating foe to the gate of the citadel. " In their terror and confusion, the garrison shut the gate before about a hundred of the fugitives could enter. Among these was Khoosial Singh, brother-in-law of Doorjun Sal [the defender of Bhurtpoor], and warmly devoted to his fortunes. Major Hunter advanced a few paces in front of his men and offered him quarter; when, with warlike fury, Khoosial THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 93 been hoisted, he sent Captain Macan, Persian interpreter, up to the gate of the citadel to parley. Receiving no answer, he dispatched an aide-de- camp to bring up two twelve-pounders. In the meantime, some of our field-guns, which had been dragged up to the breach, opened fire from the ramparts on the citadel, sending their shot into it with great precision. About three p.m. the two twelve-pounders had arrived, and everything was prepared for blowing in the gate, when a deputation came out with an offer of unconditional surrender. Lord Combermere sent for a battalion — he had only scattered detachments with him — to take pos- session of the citadel. This reinforcement arrived, when, all firing having ceased from the citadel, and not a sound or a man being seen within, an attempt was made to find some one to open the gate. For some time not an answer could be obtained ; at length one or t^yo men appeared, and by a mixture of cajoling and threatening were induced to open Singh replied to the speaker with a terrific blow. Major Hunter put up his scabbard as a guard; but such was the stoutness of arm of the gallant Jal [read Jat], so great the sharpness of his sword, that the scabbard was cut through as if it had been paper, and Major Hunter's left arm nearly severed. Our men then rushed on Khoosial Singh, who fell pierced with innumerable bayonet-wounds, and with him died, in a few minutes, nearly the whole of his band" {Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 118). O 194 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. the first gate, which stands in a quadrangular stonework,! with turrets at the angles. From this gate a bridge led across the moat — which had then twenty-five feet of water in it — to a second gate, in the citadel itself This gate was also locked ; but the man who had opened the first entrance climbed up near to the top, and then, squeezing his body- through an opening — for the gate did not shut quite close — descended on the inside, and gave admittance to our troops, who at once hoisted the king's colour of the 37th Native Infantry, at sight of which a universal shout of triumph burst from every one who beheld it. A regiment of Native Infantry was left as a garrison, and Lord Combermere re- turned to camp." Some hours before the British colours floated from the tow^er of the citadel, the occupants of the palace had fled. The Memoirs thus recount the fortunes of Doorjun Sal, at this crisis : — "That prince, finding, between ten and twelve o'clock, that the fortune of the day was going against him, hastened to the citadel for his wife and family. Collecting a vast amount of treasure, ^ Delineated in plan. THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 195 and taking with him his wife and two sons, and followed by a picked band of forty chosen horse- men, he resolved to cut his way out. At the Kombheer Gate he encountered a small picket of H.M.'s 14th, on whom his party fell fiercely, wound- ing six or eight, and thus opening a pathway for their master. Keeping close under the city walls for some distance, he entered a thick jungle, where he was joined by some more of his horsemen. He now spent some two hours in this jungle, seeking in vain an opportunity to escape, for every outlet from the place was well watched by our cavalry. At length, about half-past two, Brigadier Sleigh, having captured six or seven thousand fugitives, and seeing no more coming out of the town, dis- missed the brigade. The men had scarcely dis- mounted, when the riding-master of the 8th Light Cavalry reported that there was a body of the enemy's cavalry in front. Lieutenant Barbor was ordered to mount his troop and gallop after a small body to the left. Colonel Gill, with the remainder of the regiment, pursuing a larger force which was making off on the right. Lieutenant Barbor soon came up with the smaller body, and, accosting one of the party, who seemed from his drdss to be a chieftain of rank, demanded his sword. This was peremptorily refused, and Barbor, drawing his pistol, declared he would shoot him if he resisted. The pistol was cocked, levelled, Barbor's finger 196 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. was on the trigger, and in another instant Doorjun Sal would have been a corpse, when some one exclaimed that it was the rajah. On this, Barbor returned his pistol, and Doorjun Sal, seeing the uselessness of further resistance, gave up his sword. With him were also captured his wife and his eldest son, a boy ten years old, who, riding behind a horseman, had a finger broken by a pistol-bullet in the momentary miUe which had taken place. The other son, a child five years of age, was carried off by a faithful adherent and escaped. Each of the horsemen who accompanied Doorjun Sal had from 1200 to 2000 gold mohurs — equivalent to from £\g20 to £z200 — sewn up in the lining of his saddle." Next morning, the British general and his staft breakfasted in the hall of the rajah's palace, " a regimental band playing ' God save the King ' in honour of the occasion." During the next few days, the outlying forts, and the rest of the territory of Bhurtpoor, < were completely subjugated by the British, and peace was restored. On the fifth of February, the rightful heir to the throne (the young son of the late rajah, Baldeo THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 1 97 Singh), was formally proclaimed Rajah of Bhurtpoor by the British officials; although the honours he succeeded to were sadly shorn of their former splendour, his kingship being now entirely dependent upon the will of the British Empire, which had also appro- priated about ;^5 00,000 of the property of its ward. On the 6th of February, the fortifications of Bhurtpoor were blown up, and " the army was marched towards the frontiers of Alwar." The usurping rajah, Doorjun Saul, was sent as a prisoner to Benares. Of his garrison of twenty-five thousand men, it is said that there were thirteen thousand killed and wounded during the siege, four thousand of these being slain in the grand assault; and, of their arma- ments, "two guns and 133 pieces of ordnance fell into our hands," not to mention the lesser spoils. Out of the besieging force of some- thing like twenty-nine thousand men, the total loss only amounted to between ten and eleven hundred. 198 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. The people of Bhurtpoor seem to have "accepted the situation" with great equa- nimity ; no doubt, recognizing that they had been fairly conquered, and that the victors were wonderfully lenient. Probably, too, they had had enough of the agonies of war. When Lord Combermere paid a brief visit to Bhurtpoor in 1828, its appearance and the attitude of the people formed a strong contrast to the state of things described in the foregoing pages. " Though only two years had elapsed since the siege, the place, with the exception of the fortifications, pre- sented few signs of the fearful bombardment under which it had suffered. The in- habitants seemed to have recovered their former prosperity, and were even cordial in the reception they gave their conqueror ; " in whose honour a dinner was given by the young rajah. And when Sir William Gofnm, the then Commander-in-Chief of India, wrote from Bhurtpoor, in 1851, to Lord Comber- mere, his letter contained such remarks as THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 199 these : " The rajah is doing all sorts of kind things to oblige and amuse us. . . . We move to-morrow towards Deeg, the rajah insisting on accompanying us in person out of his territory, and showing us some hawk- ing by the way. . . . To-day we all dine at the palace, the rajah presiding in person." ^ That the rajah should feel well disposed to the British was, of course, natural ; since, without us, he would never have occupied the throne. But the thirteen thousand who fell in the siege died in defending their city against foreign invasion, and it is astonishing that the struggle did not engender a lasting feeling of hatred against their successful foe. That some such feeling was latent among them when Sir William Gomm paid his visit to Bhurtpoor is almost certain ; for when, some years later, at the crisis of 1857-58, the then rajah (loyal to his suzerain) supplied a detachment of his troops to aid in re- ^ See vol. ii. of Combermere's Memoirs, pp. 154, 292, and 293. 200 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. pressing the Mutiny in that neighbourhood, these Jaut soldiers mutinied in their turn against the British officers who were tempo- rarily placed over them, whom they com- pelled to resign their commands in order to save their lives. Nor is it to be wondered at that men of their race, some of whom were perhaps veterans of the siege, and all of whom were soldiers in a semi-independent army, should object to follow the lead of alien officers against people who were, in one sense, their fellow-countrymen. But those old animosities are dying out, there is reason to believe, among the un- educated as well as among the educated classes in India. And none of the latter class in Bhurtpoor are likely to be of the opinion that its former condition was better than its present. They have still a small standing army, but they have no enemies except the enemies of the British Empire. Two or three generations ago, their chief towns had to be strongly fortified, to protect THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 201 them from conquest or extermination by rival tribes. Nowadays, all their civilizing tendencies have free play, education is fos- tered throughout their state, and their material prosperity is greatly developed. With the railway and telegraph keeping them in touch with the whole civilized world, themselves belonging to one of its foremost divisions, it is not likely that the educated people of modern Bhurtpoor see anything to regret in the changed condition of things. As for the rights and wrongs of the struggle of sixty years ago, they may be left to take care of themselves. The conquest of the weaker by the stronger was not really re- garded as a "wrong" by either side; but, at any rate, the British have done a good deal in the way of atonement for any of their acts that may have been unjustifiable. Nor, although the brave defenders of Bhurtpoor were ultimately defeated, is there anything humiliating in the recollection. Defeat is often as honourable as victory, arid Bhurt- 202 THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. poor has little to be ashamed of in the story of its siege. A not unnatural interest in the incidents of the struggle has led me to quote much more fully than I had intended from the works out of which my information has been taken. But everything bearing upon the manners and customs of the people of Bhurt- poor ought to be of interest to those who concern themselves with the subject of Pro- fessor De Goeje's treatise. For the people of the besieged city were, and are, mainly Jauts by blood, and therefore, according to one set of theorists, of gypsy descent. Con- sequently, when we gain a glimpse or two of Bhurtpoor customs, prior to British inter- vention, we are gaining some idea of the ways, of the Jauts. To what extent the manners of Bhurtpoor, in 1825-26, were characteristic of the Jauts as a nation, is of course open to question. But one would think that where a proud and powerful THE SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR. 203 family had maintained its independence for many generations, it would also have pre- served, in a marked degree, many of its ancestral usages. A few such usages I shall briefly notice. REMARKS ON CERTAIN GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. As soon as the fortress of Bhurtpoor had yielded to the assault of Combermere's army, he sent out a portion of his forces to scour the neighbouring territory, and thus pre- vent the fugitives from the city from joining with the provincials, and making a second stand at one or tlie other of the outlying strongholds. " Our brigade," says Colonel Seaton, "went round the district, and found the strong fort of Biana abandoned, as well as those of Weer and Combheer. On the walls of the fort at Weer we found some enormous iron guns, built up something in the style of our present Armstrongs, but with this difference, that over the inner core of longi- GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. 205 tudinal bars, forming the bore, iron hoops, not coils, were shrunk on, over which came a layer of longitudinal bars, welded on parallel to the bore, and outside these another layer of hoops shrunk on. The diameter of these guns at the muzzle was enormous — some- thing like three feet, and the bore was small. I should suppose they were about 40-pounders. I don't think any amount of powder would have burst them. It is a marvel how they could have been forged. I never saw a native anvil anything so large as our common blacksmith's anvil. These guns are a curious instance of the large works successfully car- ried out by the natives of India with the rudest and simplest of means." Most, if not all, of the cannon found in India, and believed to be of early date, are of this make. So, indeed, are all primitive cannon. " The earliest cannon were not cast," says Mr. Paul Bataillard ; ^ " they were made of iron bars, bound together and con- ' Quoting from Delon, Le cuivre et le bronze. 206 REMARKS ON CERTAIN solidated like fasces, by iron hoops." Whether the expression " the earliest cannon " be held to apply to Europe or to Asia, this description is true.^ But the use of artillery is of comparatively modern date in Europe, while Asia, and notably India, can claim an immemorial acquaintanceship with fire-arms. " Cannon and guns, or any kind of fire-arms," are referred to in certain Hindoo laws, which some authorities place as far back as the sixteenth century, B.C. ; " and, presumably, they were in use before the era in which these laws were enacted. And it is believed, and very naturally, that artillery was intro- duced into Europe by people coming from India. Now, if the "enormous iron guns," de- ' In England, cannon of this make "were gradually improved, but it was not until the reign of Henry VIII. that the founders succeeded in casting iron ordnance, to the entire exclusion, thenceforward, of cannon formed of square or rounded bars welded together." {Chambers's Encyclopczdia, article " Fire-arms.") ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition, article "Gun- powder." GVPSV CHARACTERISTICS. 207 scribed by Seaton, were made by the Jauts themselves, and if this craft was one which they inherited from their ancestors, who were the earliest-known inhabitants" of Sind, it is quite likely that the Indians who taught this knowledge to Europeans were of the race of the Jauts. This is almost equivalent (many would say wholly equivalent) to saying that the use of artillery was brought into Europe by gypsies. Although Bataillard, so far as I am aware, does not go the length of saying this, he has nevertheless, some important remarks upon this point, to the following effect : — " I do not know whether the gypsies have been capable of casting or making cannon ; but what is certain is that they have been known to improvise, on occasion, the manufacture of cannon-balls. Evidence is given of this, so early as 1496, by a mandate of that date granted by Wladislas, King of Hungary, wherein we learn that Thomas Polgar, chief of twenty-five tents of wandering 2o8 REMARKS ON CERTAIN gypsies, had, with his people, made at Funfkirchen musket-balls and other ammuni- tion for Bishop Sigismond. En revanche, when Mustapha, the Turkish governor of Bosnia, besieged the town of Crupa, in 1565, the Turks having exhausted their supplies of powder and shot, the gypsies were em- ployed to make cannon-balls, some of iron, others of stone/ That gypsies could ac- complish more difficult feats than these, if required to do so, I have no doubt. Like the Hindoo artificers, they produce wonderful effects with the rudest instruments.'' One thing is certain, and it is of prime importance in the argument maintained by me, and that is, that before the manufacture of the imple- ments of war had reached its later stages of development, they were the principal, if not ' The earliest cannon-balls, we are told, were made of stone. ^ "These guns," says Colonel Seaton, in the passage quoted above, " are a curious instance of the large works successfully carried out by the natives of India with the rudest and simplest of means." GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. 209 the only armourers, in certain countries of Eastern Europe. ' Formerly,' says Kogal- nitchan, speaking of the gypsies of Roumania,. ' it was they who were the makers of muskets,, lances, swords, bomb-shells, and all the other arms required in war.'"^ The two dates here specially mentioned by Bataillard are of the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries. There are, of course, many instances of the use of artillery in Western» Europe at earlier periods than these ; but it is noteworthy that when the English were. holding Boulogne against the French, in the year 1546, the English "Council at. Boulogne" included in one of their de- spatches to the Privy Council in England the following statement : — " That the French King hath, by th' advice of two gentlemen of Hungary, very experient, made a great 1 Bataillard's Zes Zlotars ou JDzvonkars, pp. 531, 532 of the Memoires de la Societt (T Anthropologic de Paris (t. i. de la 2° s^rie). These "Zlotars," or "Dzvonkars"' (lit. bell-makers), are the gypsy artificers in bronze and brass-work in Eastern Galicia and the Bukovina. P 2IO REMARKS ON CERTAIN number of cannons of a greater calibre than ever hath been seen ; and determineth and advaunteth to beat this town all to powder." ^ That these two " very experient " master- gunners from Hungary were of the same race as those who furnished ammunition to Sigismond in 1496, and to the Turks in 1565, seems very likely, when one remembers that the gypsies were formerly "the prin- cipal, if not the only armourers in certain countries of Eastern Europe." If they were called "Hungarians" by the English and French, that would not affect this theory at all ; because gypsies, like other immigrants, have usually been styled according to the nationality of the country whence they came {e.g., Bohemians by the French) without further inquiry as to their special lineage. Assuming this belief to be correct, then, ^ Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, etc., edited by G. F. Nott, D.D., vol. i. p. 208. London, 1815. For this information (as for many other unacknowledged references) I am indebted to Mr. F. H. Groome. GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. 211 these two "gentlemen of Hungary" would appear to denote that the Hungarian gypsies of the sixteenth century possessed a fuller Iknowledge of the art of fabricating artillery ±han the races of Western Europe. These latter people, of course, had already possessed something of that knowledge. But there were gypsies in Western Europe before the sixteenth century. And they may reasonably be supposed to have brought with them this particular science, since it was known to their forefathers and kinsmen. We have a record of " how at Constantinople •certain descendants of the race of Simon Magus, Atsinkan by name, sorcerers and famous rogues, slew wild beasts by their magic arts in the presence of Bagrat IV.," in the eleventh century.^ And if these Atsinkan were, as is supposed, Zingani or gypsies, it is likely that it was their knowledge of the use of fire-arms which gave them this -" magic " power. Those gypsy pirates who ^ Encyc. Brit, 9th edit., art. "Gipsies." 212 REMARKS ON CERTAIN ascended the Tigris in the year 865/ carried, it may be remembered, three " firemen " ii> each barge, whose duty it was to attack the enemy with Greek fire, or some other com- bustible material. Possibly those " firemen '* did not use gunpowder. But as they were " Indians," and as there had been laws passed in India, two thousand years before, against the use of " cannon and guns, or any kind of fire-arms," it does not seem at all improbable that they were armed with match- locks and "jingalls," or "jinjalls."^ Whatever may be thought of a theory which would identify the first use of fire- arms in Europe with the advent of the first ' See Appendix to Professor Ue Goeje's treatise, Note H. ^ Although the former of these spelHngs is in , agree- ment with our dictionaries, it may be noted that in Lord Combermere's Memoirs and Colonel Seaton's book, the word is spelt "jinjall," or "ginjal." The occurrence in different books, and on several occasions, of these spellings precludes the idea that they are not those originally given by the two writers, who, no doubt, had heard the word used times without number. GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. 213 gypsy detachment, it is at least incontro- vertible that when the British forces bom- barded the fortifications of Bhurtpoort their fire was answered by artillery of a much more primitive fashion, out of which their own modern weapons had been evolved/ Other evidences of the high attainments in metal- working possessed by the Bhurtpoor Jauts may be seen in the finely-tempered chain-armour worn by their cavaliers ; and by the keenness of their swords, which were so keen that a single blow from one of them, ^ This applies to small-arms, as well as to cannon. The following extract from Blackwood's Magazine (Dtc, 1885, p. 776) will help to render this apparent to those who have not considered the matter : — " The Crown Prince Rudolph, in his recent journal of a tour in the East, speaks of the Bedouins at the springs of Moses carrying primitive guns, ' with long cords twisted round them, which had to be lighted and let burn until they came in contact with the powder in the pan. . . .' This is an exact description of the matchlock carried by the English soldiers in 1677." The matchlock was otherwise known as a. fusee, or fusil; from the French word, still in use. The term " firelock " probably dates from the same period as these. 214 REMARKS ON CERTAIN dealt by a powerful arm, was sufficient to cut through a steel scabbard, " as if it had been paper," and to maim the arm which held the scabbard for the remainder of its owner's life.^ It is probable that this proficiency in the manufacture of steel was also inherited from their forefathers. Similar comments might also be made regarding their knowledge of fortification, the style of which is substantially the same as that of Europe. Other of their characteristic customs, such as the amusement of hawking,, are also suggestive of our "romantic" period.* ^ Major (afterwards General) Hunter is mentioned as. thus disabled, in 1844, by the blow which he received from Khoosial Singh in 1826, at the gate of the citadel of Bhurtpoor. (Kaye's Sepoy War, and edit. pp. 284, 285. London, 1865.) ^-Captain Burton (in his Falconry in the Valley of the Indus. London, 1852) speaks of hawking as a notable feature among the customs of the races inhabiting the Indus Valley ; and that it was a pastime of the Bhurtpoor Jauts is seen from the fact that this was among the amusements offered by the rajah to Sir WilUam Gomni in 1851. GVPSy CHARACTERISTICS. 215 But enough has already been said upon these points. In Professor De Goeje's account of the Jauts, their herds of buffaloes are frequently- spoken of ; and these accompanied the cap- tive Jauts in their various deportations — to the fens of the Tigris and the Euphrates, to the frontiers of Syria, and, in the year 855, into the territory of the Byzantines. ^ This feature of Jaut life is commented upon in an interest- ing way by Mr. Bataillard,^ who first quotes the following statement by Dr. Paspati : — " To the west of Tchorlu (which lies about 70 miles north-west of Constantinople), there is a place of considerable size, called Hariupol (Charioupolis), or, according to the Turks, Hariamp61 and Herepoli, in which place there are many gypsies. These possess a large number of buffaloes, the best -in Roumelia. It is their custom to start from ^ See pp. 29, 30, of Professor De Goeje's account. ^ See his Letter to the Revue Critique (Sept. 25, Oct. 2, and Oct." 9, 1875); pp. 10, 11, of the extracted publica- tion (Paris, 1875). il6 REMARKS ON CERTAIN Hariupol every spring, in waggons drawn, by buffaloes ; and, travelling along through >the moist valleys, they continue the journey until all their animals are sold. Their families, and also their cooking utensils, are bestowed in the waggons. All of these gypsies are Musulmans, and most of them are rich. Their waggons usually number from five to ten. In the autumn, they return again to their winter-quarters at Hariupol ; in which place there are 650 families, of whom 500 are Turks." ' Mr. Bataillard then remarks : " If this passage be compared with that in which Mr. De Goeje describes the transportation to Antioch and Mopsuestia, in 714, of a certain number of Zotts and other Indians, with their buffaloes, to the number of 4000, ... as also the later deportations of these same Zotts, and, finally, their introduction into the territory of the Byzantine Empire in the year 855, then there, is every reason for supposing that, in the gypsies of Hariupol, we have an actual GVPSy CHARACTERISTICS. 21 "J remnant, wonderfully well conserved, of these Zotts or Jatts. It would be most interesting to study them on the spot, to collect their traditions, and the ethnical names by which they designate themselves, as well as those which may be given to them by others in that neighbourhood, and to note all the details which may distinguish them from other gypsies, in respect to type, language, manners, and customs. The buffaloes them- selves, however, are widely scattered, being found even in Roumania, where they are much valued for their milk. The Roumanian gypsies do not possess buffaloes ; but in Roumania one falls in, at rare intervals, with some family of Roumelian gypsies, having along with them a buffalo-cow, whose milk affords them daily nourishment. In this region, therefore, there ought also to be some information obtainable." In a recent number of the Illustrated London News^ there is an instructive drawing ^ October 3, 1885. 2l8 REMARKS ON CERTAIN by Mr. Caton Woodville, entitled " In the Plains of Roumelia," and there can be na doubt that the people who form the subject of the picture are some of these same gypsies. The foreground is almost wholly filled in by a heavy, clumsy cart, drawn by a pair of buffaloes, yoked together, and driven by a very gypsy-looking man, who, with his tawny wife and child, sits in the cart. Beside the stream (in which the oxen are standing) is a man of similar appearance ; and, in the near background, another equipment, of like de- scription, is coming up. So Oriental is the effect of all these figures, particularly of the man standing beside the stream, that had the picture been called " In the Plains of Sind," the name would have appeared almost, or quite, as suitable, to ordinary Europeans.. If these, then, are the people referred to by Dr. Paspati (and it can hardly be otherwise), their whole characteristics point them out as almost certainly some of the descendants of Mr. De Goeje's Jauts of the ninth century. GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. 219 Among the gypsies of Roumelia/ and of various parts of Turkey, is a certain sub- division called the Zapdris, or Djapdris. This caste is of special interest. Because Dr. Paspati, who refers to them as his " favourite gypsies," ^ speaks of them as the least civilized of all the race.* Their ex- pression is fierce, and their bearing proud ; although they are regarded as belonging to the very lowest of Turkish gypsies, and are held in contempt by the Sedentary class. By blood and language, they declare themselves to be the purest specimen of the gypsy type in the Ottoman Empire, and to them also belong various songs and traditions that their more hybrid kinsmen appear to have for- gotten.* The true gypsy, as represented by ^ Presumably of Roumelia. See Bataillard's Les Origines, p. 32, note i. 1876. " "Z« Tchinghiants de ma pridilection" p. 31. ° Pages 22 and 591. * Paspati, pp. 13-15, 22, 31, and 591, 592, The description of those Zaparis (p. 31), when instructing their guest in the niceties of their language, reminds one 2 20 REMARKS ON CERTAIN them, is described in these terms : — " His figure is erect, and wiry, his mien is savage, his complexion tawny, his hair black, and his eyes are black and glittering. He abhors his connections of the Sedentary class, and holds all house-dwellers in contempt."^ These words are applied to the Nomad division in general, but Dr. Paspati clearly regards the Djaparis as the representative Nomads ; so much so that one might say of them, Grattez le JSfomade et vous trouverez le Djapdri. It is from them that he has received the greater, part of his vocabulary, and probably more than the greater part of his songs and tales. In speaking of them specially, Dr. Paspati employs words synonymous with those just given, adding such additional information as this : " They wear an enormous head-gear, and wide trousers. Their look is wild, their strongly of our own English gypsies, as described by Mr. Crofton and others, and their eager desire .that only " deep " Romanes should be communicated to the students of their speech. ^ Page 14. GVPSV CHARACTERISTICS. 221 walk haughty. Three years ago, a band of these people, when strolling through the country about three hours' journey from Constantinople, killed two of the rural police who were making some rude remarks to their women. They nailed their victims down to the ground, by means of a piece of wood laid across their heads." ^ Some of these Djaparis work as smiths during the winter months. But they are chiefly known as exhibitors of performing monkeys and bears, in which character they frequent fairs and the principal towns.^ And this occupation at once suggests their connec- tion with the Indian Bediyds, the Multani of Cabul, the Persian Luris, and certain gypsies of modern Egypt.'' And a connection with ^ Page 22. ^ See Bataillard's Z« Origines,^. 32, note, Paris, 1876; also Paspati, p. 22. ' See Appendix to Professor De Goeje's treatise, ante, pp. 82-84; also ibid, pp. 11 6-1 19 for their hypo- thetical connection with the earlier European exhibitors of apes and bears. 222 CERTAIN GYPSY CHARACTERISTICS. two, at any rate, of these divisions, the Luris and the Multani, means a connection with the Jauts of Sind. One other trait of the Turkish gypsies that reminds one of the eastern Jauts, is afforded us by those abandoned daughters of the race, who are probably of the mixed " Sedentary " class, and " whom one meets in Constantinople and in the larger towns of the empire, singing in the streets, and beating time to their voices with loud clapping of the hands." These Ghiovendd, as they are called, are professional dancers and singers (" nautch girls," in short), and are generally such as Ursula Petulengro would have declined to name. Their manner of singing would, by itself, be a detail of too trifling an importance to mention here, but, taken in consideration with some of the other characteristics just noticed, it is not out of keeping with their assumed relationship to the Jaut soldiers whom Seaton saw amusing themselves in a similar fashion on the walls of Bhurtpoor. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. There seems no reason to doubt that the ^psies of the Ottoman Empire are largely the descendants of those Luris, or Jauts, who were brought westward from Sind, at various periods between the fifth and the ninth centuries. Indeed, those of them whose winter residence is at Tokdt, in the province of Sivas, have a tradition that their fore- fathers came from Persia ; ^ and they, ac- cordingly, might be descended from the 12,000 sent to Behram Gour. Moreover, the term sundb, or shundb, which the Turkish gypsies apply to those of honourable estate, is identified by Dr. Paspati with the name Sindo, Sinti, or Sindhi, applied to certain ' Paspati, p. 17. 2 24 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. European gypsies/ This also points to the same origin. Whether the Cascarots of Saint-Jean-de-Luz have preserved in their name a reminiscence of the time when the Jauts inhabited the Kaskar plains, is more dubious.^ On the other hand, although many of the peculiarities which distinguish the Turkish gypsies suggest an Eastern origin at no very remote period, and although such an origin is very clearly marked out by Professor De Goeje, it is not necessary to believe that there had been no departure of Luris out of Sind until the days of Behram Gour. So far back as the times of Pindar and Hero- dotus, we have notices of Sindhis, Kerks, Meds, and (according to Bataillard) Zigani, settled on the north-eastern shores of the ^ Paspati, p. 21. ^ This similarity in name is pointed out in Bataillard's. Les Origines (p. 7, note. Paris, 1875), though only as indicating what may possibly be a connection. These Cascarots are genuine gypsies (see Michel's Le Fays Basque, p. 144, note." Paris, 1857). MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 225 Black Sea, and in the Danube regions.^ The gypsies of modern Roumelia, and their buffaloes, may well be descended from those who entered the Byzantine Empire in the ninth century. But, nevertheless, their race may have been " Thracian " for a very much longer period than even a thousand years. One thing clearly visible is, that those "^ See Note E ante, pp. 66-70 : also Bataillard's Lorigine des Tsiganes, and his other works. I have further been directed to the following passages : — Strabo (book xi. p. 520), in some accounts of "those tribes which are perfectly barbarous, living about Mount Caucasus, and the other mountainous districts," states that " the Siginni in general practise Persian customs. They have small horses with shaggy hair, but which are not able to carry a rider." Rawlinson's Herodotus (vol. iii. p. 220) also states: "The only people I can hear of* as dwelling beyond the Ister [the Danube] are the Sigynnae, who wear, they say, a dress like the Medes, and have horses which are covered entirely with a coat of shaggy hair, five fingers in length. . . . Their borders reach down almost to the Eneti upon the Adriatic, and they call themselves colonists of the Medes." " The Sigynnae of Europe," remarks Rawlinson, "are unknown to later historians and geographers. Apollonius Rhodius intro- duces them into his poem as dwelling upon the Euxine." Q 2 26 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. gypsies of the Ottoman Empire are distinctly Romand, like those of Europe. And, while the accounts of Paspati take us as far east as the banks of the Euphrates, other writers show us the Romane in countries more Eastern still. Mr. Leland, for example, makes the following statements : — ^ " The Doms are a race of gypsies found from Central India to the far northern frontier, where a portion of their early ancestry appears as the Domarr, and are supposed to be pre-Aryan. . . . The Domarr are a mountain race, nomads, shepherds, and robbers. Travellers speak of them as 'gypsies.' A specimen which we have of their language would, with the exception of one word, which is probably an error of the transcriber, be intelligible to any English gypsy, and be called pure Romany. Finally, the ordinary Dom call himself a Dom, his wife a Domni, and the being a Dom, or the collective gypsydom, Domnipana. D in Hindustani is found as r in English gypsy speech — e.g. doi, a wooden spoon, is known in Europe as roi. Now, in common Romany we have, even in London — Rom A gypsy. Romni .... A gypsy wife. Romnipen . . . Gypsydom." ^ The Gypsies, pp. 333, 334. 1882. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 227 This Hindu word dom is recognized by Miklosich {Beitrage, iv. pp. 52, 53) as equal to rom; and Bataillard also remarks i^Les Origines, p. 7, note ^ : 1875) that Pott, " in a passage which at this moment I cannot find, has noted an identification that was proposed to him between the gypsies and the Dom, a people seated at the base of the Himalayas, on the Indian side of the range. In support of this hypothesis, I might cite the name Dumans, borne by a tribe of Syrian gypsies, apparently of some importance (Newbold, yournal of the R. Asiatic Society, vol. xvi. part ii. p. 302, 303-307 : Lond. 1856, 8vo), and the name Doum that the Syrian gypsies are said to give themselves (ibid., p. 312). But, before basing a system of identification upon such comparisons," he remarks, in conclusion, "we ought to examine them more closely." If, in addition to these statements, the evidence of Mr. Leland's " Mahometan Hindu from Calcutta"^ is trustworthy, there are ' The Gypsies, p. 337. 1882. ■!2 28 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. nomadic Roms (thus called) all over India. The particular class of gypsies last spoken of are said, however, to be called " Syrians " by other people in India. Yet in spite of this, Mr. Leland's informant asserted that "they were full-blood Hindus, and not Syrians." " ' Could he remember any of their words ? ' Yes. One of them was manro, which meant bread. Now, manro is all over Europe the gypsy word for bread. . . . These gypsies called themselves and their language Rom.'' The Roms to whom this Hindu refers may, however, be really the same as the Dams just spoken of. If the initial letter of the words Doum and Duman ought to be pronounced according to Hindu phonography, then the so-named Syrian gypsies of Newbold are most likely identical with Leland's Roms, or " Syrians." As the last-mentioned author remarks, these people may have been nothing more than temporary residents of Syria ; and, although he appears to regard their assumed residence MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 229 in that country as only a matter of a few years, it may actually have been of many centuries' duration, without affecting the case. Be this as it may, it is clear that the Turkish gypsies are Romand. And so, apparently, are those of Persia. De Goeje, in speaking of the Persian gypsies, says " they still bear the name of XAxi or Llill, applied to them long ago by Firdousi. Ouseley relates that they are well aware that their kinsmen are called Tchingini by the Turks." ^ Moreover, he adds that "the name LAri does not properly belong to them," but is given to them by the Persians. Since, then, they recognize the Turkish gypsies as their kinsmen, it is to be inferred that the Persian " Liiris " are Romans, and speak a form of Romanes. Now, Firdousi's " L6ris" are the "Jauts" of Hamza of Ispahan. Thus, the Jauts of ancient Sind, and of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and India, De Goeje's " Contribution," ante, p. 41. 230 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. ought also to be Roman6. Here, however, the linguistic test seems to fail. "Their language, now generally known as Sindht, still bears the name of Jat-kt-gali, or Jat- language, in East Beloochistan and the Western Punjaub." ^ And, after comparing Captain Burton's specimens of this language with Romanes, Mr. Groome is of opinion that "in the face of the great unlikeness of Romani and Jdtaki," we ought not to regard the Jauts as Romand.^ On the other hand, while the language of these Jauts is so distantly related to that of the Roman6, we have (on Mr. Leland's authority) an Indian gypsy race, the Doms (or Roms), with regard to whom he says : " A specimen which we have of their language would, with the exception of one word, which is probably an error of the transcriber, be intelligible to any English gypsy, and be called pure Romany." ^ De Goeje's "Contribution," ante, pp. 37, 38. ^ See Appendix, ante, pp. 81, 82. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 23 I From these statements, one is led to conjecture that the nominal Jauts of the present day are far from being pure de- scendants of the Jauts of the fifth century. And that those fifth-century Jauts are better represented by the Persian " Lliris " and the Turkish " Tchinghiand," and apparently also by the " Doms " or " Roms " of India. That, in short, the Jauts of Sind in the fifth century were genuine Romand, while the nominal Jauts of the present day are hybrids. Yet it must be remembered that race and language may part company by reason of other causes than that of intermixture of blood. Without leaving the subject in ques- tion, we see this illustrated. Mr. De Goeje states that the Jauts and the Nawar of Syria were the same people.^ And Mr. Leland (quoting Seetzen) says of gypsies : " The Turks call them Tschinganih ; but the Syrians and Egyptians, as well as themselves, Nury, in the plural El NaUar." Of the list of 1 See De Goeje's " Contribution," ante, p. 6. 232 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. words from this Nawar language supplied by Captain Newbold, Mr. Leland declares that it "does not contain a single word which would be recognized as Rommany."^ Here, then, we have a race of people alleged to be Romand by blood, but whose language is very far removed from Romanes. The gypsies of Montenegro, who (we are told by Mr. Groome) have also lost the language of their race, furnish a like example. The question of modern Indian gypsydom can only, however, be answered by oriental scholars. And only a passing reference can be made in these pages to other tribes of so- called gypsies, at present existing in India and in Ceylon ; such as those known in Southern India as Weddahs or Veddahs, Nuts, Ruraver, Sdmbadi, Ruruneru, and Sikdter, all of which tribes are classed by Dr. Mitra with the Bediyds (with a reserva- tion as to those of Ceylon). The same authority also speaks of the Shidgdrshids of ^ See Leland's English Gipsies, 1874, pp. 194, 199. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 233 the Dekhan as evidently a division of the Weddahs; while the Bunjdras of Central India, and the Konjis and Dombarus are referred to as possible gypsies. Those Dombarus, or Dumbaru, are mentioned by Mr. Lucas, author of The Yetholm History of the Gypsies; and probably the Konjis are the same as the Kanjars, or Kunjuras, with regard to whom, and the Dombarus, he makes some interesting remarks.^ Mr. Lucas also states, on Captain Richardson's authority, that the Kunjuras are no other than those " Bazeegurs or Nuts " who inhabit " the upper provinces of Hindustan." Dr. Mitra's account of " The Gypsies of Bengal," ^ since it expresses the opinions and experiences of a gentleman of Indian birth and descent, is both interesting and valuable. But if language is to be the test of race, it cannot be said that his Bediyds, " the gypsies ^ Yetholm Gypsies, pp. 88-91. 1882. ^ Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. iii. pp. 120-133. London, 1870. 234 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. of Bengal," are Romane. Indeed, as " the main principle of their language " is stated to be that exemplified by our costermongers' " back-slang;" and as the language so inverted is chiefly, perhaps wholly, Bengali ; and as, moreover, " the grammatical construction of the Bediyi language is the same as that of the Bengali,"— it does not appear that "the gypsies of Bengal " actually possess a separate form of speech. Among those words which they pronounce in the correct fashion, no doubt many could be called " Romanes ; " such as pdni (water), a' (come), ba (sit), jd (go), sui (sleep). But then, these are also Bengali or Hindustani. One of their words, however, ckiti (a crowbar), is identified by Mr. Groome with the Scotch-Gypsy chittie (an iron kettle-prop), and it may be that their vocabulary preserves other suggestive words. In some instances, what we should call " gypsy " words are found in the Bengali- Hindustani list alone ; while the so-called "Bengal-Gypsy" equivalents are quite dif- MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 235 ferent. For example, in the former list one sees mas (flesh) and chhuri (knife), where the Bediyd list gives guli and pdndi. Of the characteristics and habits of the Bediyds, it may be noted that they are "a nation of thieves," and that they, like the Thugs,^ " worship the goddess Kdlf," who " is supposed to be the patroness of rogues and thieves." The Bediyds have their own chiefs and councils, whose decisions are implicitly obeyed, without any thought of an appeal to the recognized authorities of the land. In enumerating the well-known occu- pations of European gypsies. Dr. Mitra remarks, " The Bediyd in Bengal is ignorant ' Another suggestion of a connection between Thugs and gypsies is seen in the comparison which Mr. Groome makes between \h&pola of the Thugs and \he patteran, or patrin of the Romand. For a description of the pola, he refers us to Ramaseeana ; or, a Vocabulary of the Thugs (Calcutta : G. H. Huttmann, 1836), and the name of the vocabulary is itself rather suggestive. It may also be added that "at least 500 Bediyas are annually con- victed of theft, housebreaking, and dacoity, in three or four districts of Bengal." 236 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. of none of these professions. In lying, thieving, and knavery, he is not a whit inferior to his brother of Europe, and he practises everything that enables him to pass an easy, idle life, without submitting to any law of civilized government, or the amenities of social life." " When in the neighbourhood of towns or villages," we are further told, " the Bediyd earns his livelihood by thieving, exposing dancing monkeys, bears, and ser- pents, retailing herbs, weaving baskets, and selling birds, squirrels, sheep, goats, and mungooses. When away from the habitation of civilized man, he is a hunter of jackals and foxes, a bird-catcher, a collector of herbs and simples. The Luri of Persia and the Multani of Cabul keep bears and monkeys,^ ' "The Syrian gypsies, or Nuri, who are seen with bears and monkeys in Cairo, are strangers in the land. With them a conversation is not difficult " (Leland's Gypsies, p. 302). The Syrian gypsies and those of Egypt are so interlinked with the gypsies of India, that it may be permissible to quote still further from Mr. Leland's writings. "There are three kinds of gypsies in Egypt — the MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 237 and all three are attended by wild, half- savage dogs, as are the Bunjaras of Central India and the gypsies of Europe." "The female Bediya, or Bediydni, is the very counterpart of her European sister. . . . Palmistry is her special vocation." She is also described as carrying with her a bundle of herbs, and other real or pretended charms against sickness of body and of mind ; and she is much sought after by village maidens, for the sake of the philters with which she restores to them their estranged lovers ; while Rhagarin, the Helebis, and the Nauar. They have secret jargons among themselves; but as I ascertained subsequently from specimens given by Captain Newbold and Seetzen, as quoted by Pott, their language is made up of Arabic ' back-slang,' Turkish, and Greek, with a very little Romany." Of the Rhagarin, who call themselves " Tataren," it is said : " Their women tell fortunes, tattoo, and sell small wares ; the men work in iron {quincailkrie). They are all adroit thieves, and noted as such. The men may sometimes be seen going around the country with monkeys ; in fact, they appear to be in all respects the same people as the gipsies of Europe" (Leland's English Gipsies, ch. x. 1874; The Gypsies, pp. 288-303, 1882). 2^8 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. she also makes the most daring forecasts, not only as to the date of an absent friend's return, but even as to the sex of unborn children. They are said, also, to interpret dreams, and, indeed, to practise all the arts of the European sibyl. Like the gypsy women of Cairo (vide Leland), they practise tattooing — " an art unknown to all in Bengal, except the Bediyanis." " Young girls are their principal patrons, and they generally get themselves tattooed between the eye- brows or below the under lip. Sometimes the breasts and the forearms are also sub- jected to the operation." " The Bediyas show no tendency to obesity, and are noted for a light, elastic, wiry make, very uncommon in the people of this country [Bengal]. In agility and hardi- hood they stand unrivalled. The men are of a brownish colour, like the bulk of Bengalies, but never black. The women are of a lighter complexion, and generally well formed — some of them have considerable MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 239 claims to beauty ; and for a race so rude and primitive in their habits as the Bediyas are, there is a sharpness in the features of their women which we see in no other aboriginal race in India. Like the gypsies of Europe, they are noted for the symmetry of their limbs ; but their offensive habits, dirty cloth- ing, and filthy professions, give them a repulsive appearance, which is heightened by, the reputation they have of kidnapping children, and frequenting burial-grounds and places of cremation. Their eyes and hair are always black, but their stature varies very much in different individuals." Dr. Mitra, however, here interposes a caution against assuming all nominal Bediyds to be really of that race. It seems there are, in Bengal, "a great number of men- who profess to be Bediyas, but who turn out, on cross- examination, to be either outcasts or de- scendants of outcasts, who, for want of better, have adopted the profession of the Bediyds. . These, as well as other pseudo-Bediyds, 240 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. have none of the physical peculiarities of their namesake, and are generally of a black complexion. Though popularly known as Bediyds, they keep distinct, and are never allowed to mix and intermarry with the true Bediyd." " The true Bediyi does not often build a permanent house, and seldom takes to agri- culture. . . . The place of their encamp- ment is the outskirts of a village, and there they put up, with the mats and sticks, a few miserable little wigwams, in which men, women, and children huddle together, with little attention to ease or convenience. In some parts of the Burdwan and Baraset districts in Bengal, the Bediyds have per- manent huts, like those of the native peasantry. They are frequently forsaken, and are put up only to evade the persecution of police officers." "The dress of the Bediyds assimilates generally with that of the people among whom they live. The Nuts have party- MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 24.I coloured cloths hanging from different parts of their body, and jugglers sometimes put on some outlandish garment or other; but the great bulk dress very much in the same way as the natives of the country," Dr, Mitra regards the Shidgarshids and the Weddahs (of whom they are a sub- division) as " the counterpart " of the Bediyds. They are, he says, quoting Mr. Stevenson, " a tribe of jugglers and fortune-tellers who wander about the Dekhan, and probably other parts of the country, where, however, they are not known by this name, but generally, we believej by that of 'gorode' (juggler)j which is the denomination of the caste in the yijjidneswara,. Sdstra. The Karnd.taka term of 'shudgdrshid ' is derived from shudgdr (a burning or burial ground), and skid (proficient, ready), it being their habit to prowl about these places to collect certain pieces of human bone with which they are supposed to work charms and in- cantations. The tribe is looked upon with 242 MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. much awe and detestation, and the fear of exciting the wrath of any of its members generally secures a ready compliance with their demands for charity. On this, how- ever, they do not place their only reliance ; they are notorious for kidnapping children, and also for an abominable traffic, consisting in the sale of sinews extracted from the breasts, the wrists, and the ankles of females. . . . The deity which they conceive chiefly entitled to their worship is the goddess Chowdhi (Chandi ?), whose principal shrine is in Malabar, where, we understand, the caste is most numerous. North of the Krishna they worship Rdmastick, a goddess whose chief pagoda is in Kundahdr." The word whence the Bengali form Bediyd comes is said by Dr. Mitra to be Bede, which he connects with a name given to gypsies or " Tartars " " before the time of Zinghis Khan," The "Tartars" he speaks of are the Romand of Northern Europe, known in the Scandinavian countries as " Tartars." MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 243 But it is not clear that Mitra's Bediyis and their compeers ought to be regarded as closely allied to the Romans. However, they cannot be left out in any consideration of the gypsies of India. INDEX. Acrobats, gypsies as, 7, 30, 48, 1 14-126 Actors, gypsies as, 120; jugglers as, 116, 120 Afghanistan, Jauts in, 78 Africans, gypsies as, 42 Agaihyrsi of Thrace, 89 Aimaria, captured by Byzantines in 85 5 A. D. , 29, 30 ; Jau t prisoners used as servants in, 29, 75 Alsace, gypsies of, 103, 104 Antioch, Jauts and Sayabija brought in the seventh century to, 17 ; Jauts brought about 710 a.d. to, 20, 21 ; the "Jauts' Quarter" of, in the ninth century, 17, 18; buffaloes of, 22 Arabia, Jauts in, 15, 78 Arabs, at war with Persians, 5, 14; Abu-Bekr's rebellion, 15; campaign against Jauts of Lower Tigris, 24-28 Armourers, gypsies as, 209, 213 Artillery, in Bhurtpoor, 127-205 ; antique make of, 205-207; used in Asia in early times, 206, 207 ; manufactured by gypsies of south-eastern Europe, 207-209 Aryans, Jauts are, according to Trumpp, 37, 79 Asdwira associated with Jauts, 44 Asia (Central), Jauts in, 78 Asia Minor, Jauts in, 78 ; gypsies in, 105-108, 223, 225-231 Atlantis, theoretical derivation of gypsies from, 3 B Babylon, Jauts settled near, 15 Baghdad, Jaut domination between Bussorah and, 23-27, 73, 74 ; entry of captive Jauts into, in 834 A.D., 27, 28 ; captive Kerks employed as musicians in, in gii A.D., 113 Bahrein, Jauts settled in, 15 246 INDEX. Balkh, 10 Baltic, Indians in, 68, 89 Bareli, Jauts of, 80 Barges and Bargemen, 12, 13 ; etymology of "barge," 70-72 ; Kerk "bargees" on Tigris, 74 Basque Gypsies, 56, 94, 99, 105 Basra, or Bussorah, Jaut colony in, in the seventh century, 14, 15 j Jaut domination between Baghdad and, in the ninth century, 23-27. 73i 74; captive Jauts employed as policemen, etc., in, 75 Bataillard, vi., 3, 52, S3. S6-S8, 65, 66, 81, 83, 103, 104, no, in, 125, 205, 207-209, 215-217 Battha, near Babylon, "canal of the Jauts " in, 15, 16 Baudrimont, 56, 6$, 94, 99, 100 Bear-leaders, gypsies as, 83; jugglers as, 119 Bediyis, 82-84, 232-243 Bedouins, Jauts employed against, 15 Better, or Pehen (river), 11 Behram Gour, 4, 5, 14 Belddsort, 62, 63 Bell-makers, gypsies as, 209 Beloochistan, 9, 38, 61 ; Jauts in, 78 Bengal, gypsies of, 82-84, 232-243 Berbers, 8, 10 ; gypsies called, 42 Bhangt, said to mean "drunkards," also "hunters" (otherwise shikdri), 47, ^8 ; Jauts as, 37 ; Bediyas as, 84 Bhurtpoor, Jauts of, 33, 34, 79, 127-203 Bhurtpoor, siege of, 127-201 Bikaner, Jauts of, 80 Black Sea, Sindians on the, 67, 68 Bodha, 8-10 "Bohemians," 6, 90, III, 112, 120 Borrow, 91, 93, 96-102 Britons styled "Moors," etc., 69, 89 Buffaloes, Jauts rearers of, 13 ; brought with Jauts to the Lower Tigris and to Syria circa 710 A.D., 19-21 ; 4000 of them in Tigris fens in 720 A.D., whence deported to Al-Ma99i9a, 21 ; those of Ainzarba captured by Byzantines in 855 A.D., 30 ; used in Roumelia at present day, 215-218 Buffoons, Jauts and g)fpsies as, 40, 90, 91, 125 ; jongleurs as, 116 BAka, Jauts in (ninth century), 17, 18 Bukovina, gypsies of, 209 Bulgaria, gypsies of, 83 Bunjdras of India, 82, 233, 237 Burton, 61, 80, 81, 214 Byzantine Empire, invaded by " Sindian" cohorts in 767 A.D., 44 •„ Jauts brought into, in 855 a.d., 29, 30 INDEX. 247 Cabul, Jauts of, 82, 83 Camel-breeders, Jauts as, 9, lo, 37, 61, 8l Canals; "canal of the Jauts," near Babylon, 15, 16 Card-sharpers, gypsies as, 7 Cattle-rearers, Jauts as, 41, 48 Charlatans, 1 16, 125 Circumcision among Kolchians of Black Sea, 69 CSrdava, See Z>e Cordova Crofton, 93, 98, no, 114 Cuneiform characters, associated with gypsies, 56 Cyprus, gypsies in, 2 D Damascus, gypsies of, 5, 41 Danes as "black heathen," 89 Danube regions, gypsies in, 54 De Cdrdofoa, 65 De Goeje, 1-126 Delhi, Jauts in neighbourhood of, 33 Dera-Jat, 11, 78 De Rochas, 90, 94, 95, 98-100, 109-111 De Saulcy, 56, 65 I^ogs, gypsies', 82 DffU'Son, 63, 64, 79, 80 Egypt, a Jaut governor of, in the ninth century, 17 ; gypsies of, 42, 107 "Egyptian prisoners" in Arab army of 834 A.D., 27 "Egyptians," or "gypsies," 42, 43, 45, 109-112, 114, 119 "Egyptians" of the Black Sea, 69 Elliot, I-S9, 62-71 England, gypsies of, 92-107, 110-112, 119, 125, 126 Ethiopians, Kolchians as, 70; in Britain, 89, 117, 122-124 Euphrates, Jaut settlements on, 15 ; Romane on, 107 Falconry among the Jauts, 214 Farakhabad, Jauts of, 80 Farmers, Jauts as, 37, 48, 81 248 INDEX. Firearms, early use of, in Asia, 152, 153, 206 ; used on Tigris by Kerks in the ninth century, 74 ; used by Moslems in the eleventh century, 76; "enormous iron guns" in Bhurtpoor territory, 204, 205 ; gypsies as makers of artillery, 207-213 Folk-lore of Jauts, 37, 58, 59, 79 Fortune-tellers, gypsies as, 7, 48, 97 France, gypsies of, 95, 99, 110-112 Galicia, gypsies of, 209 Ganddra, Kandohar, or Kondohar, a town where coins current in Sind were formerly minted, 46, 127 Ganddva, 10 ; Jauts of, 80 Ganges district, Jauts of, 80 Gaujo, gadzo, etc., 93-95, 105, 107, 108 ; = gandorry, 46 ; = husno, 94 ; = kutiir, 108 Geloni of Thrace, otherwise Agathyrsi, Getsc, Picti, Tartari, and " Walachians or Moldavians," 87-89 Germany, gypsies of, 2, 99, 103, 104 Ghazni, or Kandahar, Jauts migrated from, 78, 127 Gitano = Egyptian, 109-112 Goeje, De. See De Goeje Gomni (? G/iomni) = Romni, 106, note ' Goths, or Getse, Jauts related to, 38, 78, 85-90 Greece, jongleurs of, 124 Grellmann, 2 Groome, 65, 81, 88, 98, 99, loi, 102, 210 Gwalior, Jauts of, 80 Gypsies, of one origin, I, 53 ; as Indians, I, 53 ; as Hamites, 66 ; as Jauts, 41, 79, 81, 229-231 ; as Berbers, or Africans, 42 ; as Picts, 86-90; the name "gypsy" or "gipsy," 109-112; language, 2, 53-56, 58, 81, 82 ; gypsies as acrobats, 7, 84, 125 ; as minstrels, 7, 1 12-124 j as jesters, mountebanks, and jugglers, 7, 84, 1 12-126; as quacks or charlatans, 125; as travelling showmen, 7 ; as card-sharpers and thimble-riggers, 7 ; as bear- leaders, monkey-exhibitors, and organ-grinders, 82-84 > ^s serpent-charmers, 83 ; as fortune-tellers and magicians, or sorcerers, 6, 7, 97, 120, 21 1 ; as spies and foragers, 2 ; as thieves, 6, 82 H Ham, descendants of, 11, 63, 65, 66 Haraud-Dajel, Jauts of, 80 Heidens, or Heathens, a name given to gypsies in Hollard, iii INDEX. 249 Heister, 2 Herodotus, 64, 65, 67, 225 Hindu = Sindt, 40, 67, 68 Holland, gypsies of, 90, 91, 11 1, 119 Horse-breeders, Jauts as, 13 TTnvlnMd R8 Hoyland, 88 Moyland, 88 Hungary, gypsies of, 2, 54, 94, 95, 98-100, 106, 120, I24, 207, 208 ; " two gentlemen of Hungary," 209-21 1 I Ifidians beside the Black Sea, and on the Baltic, 67-70 Jndus Valley, 1-59 Ird/i, Jauts in, 44 Ireland, gypsies of, 93 ; jugglers or jongleurs of, 121, 124 Italy, gypsies of, 100 J yats. See Jauts Jauts (see also Meds and JCerks), 77-84 ; the name Jaut or Zott, 5, 8, 77> 78 ; used as a term of contempt, 6, 37, 39, 61 j Indian origin of the, 5, 6, 63, 64 ; regarded as Hamites, 63, 65 ; the langu^e of the, 37, 38, 58, 61, 81, 82, 230; Jaut countries, 8-1 1, 78-84; taken to Persia in the fifth century, 4 ; various movements of Jauts betvireen the seventh and eleventh centuries, 15-33, 7^) 77 > °^ Beloochistan, 61 ; of the Jiid hills, 76, 77 ; of Jodhpur, 80 ; of Jesalmer, 80 ; of Delhi and Bhurtpoor, 33, 34, 127-203 ; dress and chai-acteristics, 6, 28, 74; regarded as musicians, 6, 74, 75, 112, 113; as hunters and fishers, 37; as farmers, 37; as rearers of sheep, buffaloes, camels, and horses, 9-13, 37 ; as robbers, pirates, and sailors, 11, 23, 34, 39, 61, 79; as beggars, 23; as pedfars, 79; a Jaut satirist, 25 ; Jauts as soldiers in Arab army, 18, 19, 32 ; as gensdarmes, 75; a "Jaut quarter " in Antioch in the ninth century, 17, 18 Jesalmer, Jauts of, 80 Jesters, iij, 116, 119, 123, 125 Jidda, taken by the Kerks, 12 Jodhpur, Jauts of, 80 Jiid Hills, Jauts of, 77 „ , Jugglers, or Jongleurs, gypsies as, 7, 30, 48, 90, 91, 1 12-124, 236, 241 ; alleged to be descended from an ancient British king, 121, 122 Jumna district, Jauts of, 80 250 INDEX. K&mohol, 10 Kandabtl, 10 Kandahar, Jauts migi'ated from, 78 Kaskar, marshes of, on the Tigris, 19; Jauts settled there circa 710 A.D., ig, 20 ; Jauts had become very powerful by 820 a.d. in, 22, 23 ; campaigns with Arabs and final reduction by them, 24-28 ; 73-75 ; conveyed from thence to Khanekin, Ainzarba, and Syrian frontier, 28, 75 Kerks, as pirates in Red Sea, 12, 49 ; on the Tigris, 74 ; as musicians, 75, 113; their history, 66-70; Shakara, a town iti their territory, 49 Kerketce, "an Indian nation" on the Black Sea, 68-70 Khanekin, Jaut prisoners deported thither in 834 A.D., 28 A',4»z«'rffl«, Jauts of, in the seventh or eighth centuries, 16; "the Jauts' territory" in, 16 Kik&n (horse-breeding Jauts), 13 ; resisted Arab invasion of India, 18 ; allies of Arabs, 18, 19 Kolchians of Black Sea region, 69 Kosdar, or Khozdur, 9, 10 Kurds, 8 Lcuroix, 91, 1 19-122 Lallemant, 39 Leland, v., 7, 84, 88, 94, 95, 97, 99, 101-103, 107, 126 Lucas, 1)6, 97, loi, 115, ii8 Lilrts, or lAMs, name given to Jauts or gypsies of Persia, 4, 41, 82, 229-231 ; gypsies of Egypt called, in the fourteenth century, 42 LAHstan, ^i, Afl M Moffifa, or Mopsuestia, Jauts brought thither in the eighth century, 20, 21 Magicians, or Sorcerers, Sindi as, 68 ; Romans as, 97, 120, 211 MahmMs " Seventeenth Expedition," 75-77 Maidi, a tribe of the Black Sea region, 67-70 Mansilra, 8, 9 Medes, inscriptions ascribed to, 56; in Danube regions, 64; con- nected with Meds, 65 Meds, or Meid, 8-1 1 ; as sheep-rearers, 11; enemies, and then allies, of Arabs, 18, 19 ; subdued by Arabs in the ninth cen- INDEX. 251 tury, 31 ; rose into power at Al-Mansura in the eleventh century, but crushed by MahmM, 32, 33; compared with Medes, 64, 65 ; Haniites, 63, 65 ; Meds of Debal, 67 ; Meds still an existing race, 36 Mesopotamia, Jauts in, 28, 44, 56 Michel, 94, 99, 100 Miklosich, 92-95, 98, 100, 106, 107 Mimus = Sindi and Bohemian, 40, 90, 91 Mitra, 82-84, 88, 91, 109, 232-243 Mokr&n, or Mekran, 8, 9 Moldavians, 89 Monkey-Exhibitors, gypsies as, 82-84, "8, 119; jugglers as, 116, 118 Mopsuestia. See Maffifa Motribtya, 6, 113. Ste Musicians Mountebanks, gypsies as, 7, 40, 48, 90, 91, 114-126 Multdn, 9, 10 ; Jauts in, 77, 82, 83 Musicians, or Motribtya, or Tchengan^, gypsies as, 4-7, 48, 49, I 12-124 N Nawar, a Syrian name for gypsies, 6, 231, 232 Newbold, 84, 102, 232 Nibelungen-Lied, a reputed author of the, 120 Nomadic division of Turkish gypsies, 48, 94-108, 219-221; Nuts of India, 232-243 O Omar, the "Jauts' Territory" in Khuzistan conquered in the reign of, 1 6 Ouseley, 4ij 229 Fanjdb, or Punjaub, Jauts in, 11, 78, 19, 81 5 Jauts form two-fifths of present population of, 36, 38 Paspati, 48, S3. 104-108, 21 S, 216 Pedlars, gypsies as, 48 ; Jauts as, 79 Pehen. Ses Beher Persia, gypsies of, 4, 4i, 78, 82, 103, 112, 229-231 Peshdwar, Jauts near, 37, 81 Picts, gypsies as, 86-90 Pindar, 69 Pirates, 11, iz, 49. 67. 74 252 INDEX. Pott, vi. I, 4, 52, S3 Pottinger, 80 Prdkrlt, Jaut-Ianguage related to, 38 R Jidjputs, Jauts related to, 78, 79 R&mhormuz, i6 Reinaud, I-59, 67 Rhapsodists, 121, 124 Rienzi, 2 Ritter, 69 Roberts, 98 ifo772, Romane, etc., 7, 43, 81, 82, 91-108, 225-232, 242, 243 Roum, the, 29, loi, 102 ^02