A Journey to Katmandu | Page 7

frames on the surrounding house-tops showed this to be a favourite
amusement. The young gentleman in question certainly made his flock
obey him in a wonderful manner, his chief object being to take prisoner
a pigeon from his neighbour's flock. He directed their gyrations by loud
shrill cries, and, as there were numbers of other members of "Young
Benares" employed in like manner, it seemed wonderful how he could
recognize his pigeons, or they their master.

Leaving this antique specimen of a nobleman's town house, we passed
through a maze of narrow streets; and bobbing under low archways at
the imminent peril of fracturing our skulls, we arrived at the
Bisheshwan Temple, which was crowded with Hindoos worshipping
the Lingum, representations of which met the eye in every direction.
A well in the yard behind the temple was surrounded by worshippers of
the god, who is supposed to have plunged down it and never to have
come up again. If so, he must find the smell of decayed vegetation very
oppressive, as garlands of flowers and handfuls of rice are continually
being offered up, or rather down, to him. From this well we had a good
view of the temple, which was covered with gold by Runjeet Singh,
and presents a gorgeous and dazzling appearance.
In close vicinity to this temple is a mosque built by Arungzebe to
annoy the Hindoos. I ascended the Maido Rai Minar or minaret, and
from its giddy height had a magnificent panorama of the city and its
environs, with the Ganges flowing majestically beneath, its left bank
teeming with life, while the opposite bank seemed desolate.
The observatory, or man mundil, is on the river's bank, and affords a
pretty view from its terraces, which are covered with disks and
semicircles and magical figures cut in stone.
Gopenate Dore Peshad is the great dealer in Benares embroidery, as
well as its manufacturer. We paid him a visit and were delighted with
the rich variety of embroidered goods which were displayed; we saw
pieces valued at from 10,000 rupees downwards: magnificent smoking
carpets, housings and trappings for horses, shawls, caps, kenkabs, and
other articles of eastern attire, were spread out before us in gorgeous
profusion. After eating a cardamum, and touching with our
pocket-handkerchief some cotton on which had been dropped otto of
roses, we ascended to the house-top, and found it built upon much the
same plan as Cashmere Mull's, without its antique carving and quaint
appearance.
We were not a little glad when the bustle and heat attendant on so much
sight-seeing was over, and we forced our way back through the

crowded streets.
The population of Benares is estimated by Mr. Prinsep at nearly
200,000; its trade consists chiefly in sugar, saltpetre, indigo, opium,
and embroidered cloths; besides which, the city has advantages in its
position on the great river, making it, jointly with Mirzapore, the depot
for the commerce of the Dukkum and interior of Hindostan.
General Jung Bahadoor had reached Benares a few days before I
arrived there, and I found him installed in a handsome house, the envy
of all rajahs, the wonder of the natives, and the admiration of his own
countrymen, some thousands of whom had come thus far to meet him.
If he had been a lion in London, he was not less an object of interest at
Benares--his house was always crowded with visitors of high degree,
Indian and European; one old native rajah in particular was frequently
to be seen in close conference with him; and the result was, that the
Prime Minister of Nepaul became the husband of the second daughter
of his Highness the ex-Rajah of Coorg. Upon the day following his
nuptials my friend and I called upon him, and to our surprise he offered
to present us to his newly wedded bride. We, of course, expressed our
sense of the honour he was doing us; and had just reached the balcony,
the stairs leading up to which were on the outside of the house, when
our friend the bridegroom perceived his father-in-law, the Coorg rajah,
coming in a most dignified manner down the approach. Like a
schoolboy caught in the master's orchard, he at once retreated and
unceremoniously hurried us back--and just in time, for no doubt, if the
old Coorg had detected him thus exhibiting his daughter the day after
he had married her, he would have mightily disapproved of so improper
a proceeding. This incident shows how utterly Jung despised those
prejudices which enthralled his bigoted father-in-law. He was, in fact,
the most European Oriental, if I may so speak, that I ever met with, and
more thoroughly unaffected and unreserved in his communication with
us than is the habit with eastern great men, who always seem afraid of
compromising