Volume 1

Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman].

  • William Henry Sleeman
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    109/492 page 69
    HORNETS’ NESTS IN INDIA dinners on shore every day; and one still afternoon a sipahi (sepoy), by cooking his dinner under one of those nests without seeing it, sent the infuriated sw^arm among the wEole of his comrades, who were cooking in the same gio\e, and undressed, as they ahvays are on such occa- sions. I reasure, food, and all were immediately deserted, and the whole of the party, save the European officers.' were up to their noses in the river Ganges. The hornets hovered over them • and it was amusing to see them bobbing their heads under as the insects tried to pounce upon them. The officers covered themselves up in the caipets of their boats ^ and, as the day was a hot one, theii situation wais still more uncomfortable than that of the men. Darkness alone put an end to the conflict. I should mention that the poor old Rani, or Queen of Garha, Lachhmi Kuar, came out as far as Ratangi with us to take leave of my wife, to whom she has always been attached. She had been in the habit of spending a day with her at my house once a w^eek ; and being the only European lady from wffiom she had ever received any atten- tion, or indeed ever been on terms of any intimacy with, she feels the more sensible of the little offices of kindness and courtesy she has received from her.* Tier husband, Narhar Sa, w^as the last of the long line of sixty-tw^o sovereigns wffio reigned over these territories from the year A.D. 358 to the Sagar conquest, a.d. 1781. He died a prisoner in the fortress of Kurai, in the Sagar district, in ^ After we left Jubbulpore, the old Rani used to receive much kind and considerate attention from the Hon. Mrs. Shore, a very amiable woman, the wife of the Governor-General’s representative, the Hon. Mr. Shore, a very worthy and able member of the Bengal Civil Seivice. [W. H. S.] For notice of Mr. Shore, see note at end of Chapter XHI, p. no. 2 See the author’s paper entitled “ History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal^ vol. vi, p. 621, and the article “ Mandla ” in Central Provinces Gazetteer.
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