Читать книгу Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon - Lesley Adkins - Страница 9

The low-lying fortified island of Bombay (now called Mumbai) was known as Bom Bahia (‘good bay’) when it was a Portuguese possession. In 1661 it became British when ceded to Charles II as part of the dowry of his Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza, and seven years later it was leased to the East India Company for an annual rent of £10. The city with its sheltered harbour developed rapidly as more islands were reclaimed from the marshland, and apart from the fort and esplanade, there was an extensive native town. Over two decades before Henry Rawlinson’s arrival, a fire broke out in the fort, which led to the destruction of many houses, but allowed improved rebuilding along wider streets.

Rawlinson initially attended cadet classes, but was soon attached as ensign, the lowest-ranking officer, to the 2nd European Infantry Regiment, known as the Bombay Buffs. His first military duty was Saturday 1 December 1827, when he attended the early morning muster of the regiment. The next day he agreed to accompany a shooting party, explaining to his sisters that Sundays were not regarded as a holy day of rest: ‘This day is considered here as no more than any other day with respect to shooting, playing billiards &c. Indeed it is generally pitched upon us an excursion day; notwithstanding how much your ideas of propriety may be shocked, you must not consider us at anything particular in us rising at 2 in the morning, and having sent our servants on before with lots of tuck, in starting with guns, powder and shot on a shooting excursion to Kourlee in Salsette.’¹ They arrived just as it was light enough to begin shooting, and, wrote Rawlinson, ‘No sooner had we began to beat than four quails got up, at which of course I immediately blazed away, and running to pick up my game was rather astounded at perceiving the effect of my shott in a group of beaters … lying prostrate and bleeding on the ground – they had just left the road to begin beating, and being hidden from my sight by a thin bush received the whole contents of my charge to their no slight confusion and dismay – only one was hurt at all seriously, who had about a dozen shot a few inches in his legs and face – however he was speedily reconciled to his condition by a douceur of 2 rupees.’²

This was the first time Rawlinson had seen anything of the Indian countryside, which to him appeared ‘extremely prepossessing. The woods were filled with birds of the brightest colours and butterflies of a magnitude which [would] rather surprise Georgiana.’³ Wildlife abounded, and conservation was never an issue, only the sport. The day’s shooting was fairly successful, and Rawlinson told his sisters: ‘The following items compose my days sport – 6 beaters, more or less damaged, 3 black pigeons, one splendid kingfisher, one muena (a most beautiful blue and scarlet bird), one hoopooe, 2 quails both lost in the long grass, one hawk, one rook, one gull, one paddy bird and eight sand snipers – we were much disappointed at not meeting with any partridges … We had lots of beer and returned home very merry at about 9 oclock at night racing our buggies all the way.’⁴ At the age of seventeen he found himself in an exotic world where he wielded power even as the lowest-ranking officer and, compared to the indigenous population, immense riches – for an immature young man it was intoxicating.

Military activities for Rawlinson in India were not onerous, though he studied with a native language teacher (a munshi). The day after his excursion he declared himself ‘too lazy to do much with my moonshee’.⁵ Instead, he went pigeon shooting with his friends Hogg and Philipps: ‘I backed every shot of mine against theirs at a rupee a shot and after about two hours shooting I came off a winner of fifteen rupees … I rode my horse in the evening being the first time for this last week as he has been in physick – saw a good many cronies on the Esplanade and dealt out a little nonsense to my friend Mrs Hull, by far the prettiest lady there.’⁶

Next occurred an event that threatened his future in the army: ‘Met Brown who asked me to dine with him at seven which I accordingly did, found a party of 8 jolly fellows assembled at dinner and spent the pleasantest evening I ever did since I have been here – lots of Claret, Beer, Punch – and sallying out for a lark at about 10 oclock, commenced levelling all the tents in the vicinity – it was glorious fun, but I am afraid we shall get into a terrible row about it. I am always exceedingly sorry after such parties that I have made myself such a fool, yet I have not sufficient resolution to resist the temptation of attending them.’⁷ The following day an official complaint was made of their behaviour, and Rawlinson was dismayed at the possible outcome: ‘there seems every probability of our being brought to a Court Martial and dismissed the service. I am really quite disgusted with the world now – if I am now really cashiered for such a trifling offence, I shall immediately tell the fellows who prosecute that they are no gentlemen and if they shoot me they may – if I survive I shall enter into the King of Persia’s services and try if I cannot make some figure in the world there. India is too narrow a field for my ambition – everything here goes by interest and it is impossible to get into notice unless patronized by some of the Grandees. I cannot bear the idea of creeping unknown through the world.’⁸ To his relief, no more was heard of the court martial and he vowed never to get drunk again.

By now Rawlinson was hoping to receive letters from home, but was bitterly disappointed when the Upton Castle came in. ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’ he complained, ‘I suppose I am now entirely forgotten by all my friends in England … I have [made] minute enquiries and find that there is no letter, packet or parcel of any description, come out for me by the Upton Castle, which has not only surprised but greatly annoyed me as I did not expect to be forgotten quite so soon as it appears I am.’⁹

The following Sunday he marched to church with the regiment, but was not impressed with the service: ‘Carr the clergyman gave us a terrible long sermon about Serjeant Tedman who has lately “gone out”. The deaths here are really quite awful.’¹⁰ Among Europeans in India the death rate was especially high, from causes such as malaria, cholera, dysentery, smallpox, dog bites, snakes and scorpions. Because of these threats, Rawlinson considered a new career in England: ‘I am frequently resolved to adopt an entirely new course of life, to give up all the future prospect of glory and delight, which I have so often and so fondly pictured to my ardent mind, and turn religious. I used at one time certainly to be really pious and in a fit state to be called into the presence of my maker, but I was then a child, I was then a stranger to the temptations of the world and had then never experienced what I am afraid I shall never have sufficient strength and resolution to withstand.’¹¹ He had little regard for Carr, adding: ‘I am not as yet sufficiently under the influence of the Spirit of God to relish three hours prosing controversy on disputed texts … I hope and trust I may in time acquire the power of abstracting my mind in prayer which for any length of time, I find at present particularly difficult.’¹² The subject of religion was a recurring topic in Rawlinson’s early journals, and it obviously bothered him that, as a Christian, his beliefs were not as strong as he wished.

He was now hard at work studying Hindustani and in mid-December wrote: ‘I was obliged to go to Fort George to meet my new Moonshee at 10 oclock. I like him much better than the last; tho’ he is a little high and connected, he is certainly very clever and I stand a much greater chance of improving under his tuition.’¹³ Three days later he was less happy, writing that he ‘waited for my moonshee till 10 oclock – blew him up sky high for not coming earlier – he tells me I shall not pass unless I fagg very hard – now as it is impossible to fagg even tolerably hard in this climate, I shall give up all ideas of passing this examination and not try until the next.’¹⁴

A mood of depression set in, fuelled by unhappiness at receiving no word from England on the arrival of two more ships, especially as all the other officers received letters, ‘which makes my disappointment more cutting’.¹⁵ On Sunday 16 December, Rawlinson marched to church early in the morning with his regiment, but was suffering from a bad cold and sore throat, so did not go out again afterwards: ‘I have been very low all day. I neither like the climate, country, inhabitants or profession and shall be most heartily glad to get back to England again. If an officer has neither a regimental, nor general staff appointment his life here must be the idlest, and least profitable, occupation in the World – far from being able to lay by money, his pay will be inadequate to his expenses, especially if at a dear station like Bombay – my mind is I think extremely fickle. I am sometimes elated with ideas of wealth, glory and happiness, and again if anything should happen to depress my spirits (such as those bitter disappointments in not hearing from England) I can see nothing before me but want, penury and distress. Oh money, money, how vain and yet how indispensable thou art in a great measure to human happiness.’¹⁶

To add to his mood, on Monday he received ‘another blowing up … for not attending parade at gunfire, for which however I had never received any orders … I am in future to attend all parades’.¹⁷ He had, though, decided to take his Hindustani examination in the new year after all, even though it was difficult to work: ‘Fag a little now and then with my moonshee; I am fully aware of the necessity of the most assiduous study, if I hope to be ready for the next examination, yet such is the relaxing nature of the climate, that it is with the utmost difficulty I can bring myself to get even a page of the Bagh & Buhar [a story written to teach students Hindustani] ready for my moonshee – there is consequently very little if any chance of my passing in January … I really must fagg … these lazy habits will not do. I must study 4 hours a day at least … I have not been out to a party this age – it is really very stupid here and if I can but pass next month, get posted to a regiment and start off up the country, why I may perhaps be a little more comfortable.’¹⁸ He had now been in Bombay just fifty-two days.

Rawlinson still indulged in shooting, going to dinner, drinking tea, writing poetry and a play, and singing at parties, even though he claimed not to have attended any party recently. On 22 December his first poem was published in the Bombay Courier. Eleven verses long and entitled On the first sight of land, the poem appeared ‘with a most insulting Editor’s note’.¹⁹ Wisely, Rawlinson used a pseudonym, because reaction was not favourable: ‘With respect to the poetry in the Courier, there are various opinions concerning it, and as it is considered by the majority to be trash, I have not ventured to avow the authorship except to a few of my particular cronies.’²⁰ Further disappointment occurred when another ship came in with no mail, but Rawlinson was now somewhat happier. On 24 December he noted: ‘The parade bugle sounded at gunfire and we marched out to a grand Brigade parade – there were four regiments consisting altogether of about 3000 men … I know enough of the drill now to manoeuvre with any company and got through the parade without a single blunder.’²¹

On Christmas Day, he admitted: ‘I begin to like my situation a great deal better than I have done as I am getting better acquainted with my fellow officers. I used to fancy that they treated me particularly coldly, which I supposed had arisen from the row I had got into about the tents … I have in fact hardly any doubt that this was the case. I am fully resolved now never to indulge in future at any of the mess parties so as to get in the least inebriated. I do it chiefly out of my love of fun and jollity and certainly not out of any fondness for liquor, as with the exception of a few wines I absolutely hate.’²²

In late January 1828 he was working hard for his examination, as he explained to Maria in his journal: ‘I … really do begin to have some hopes of success in the examination which takes place on Feb^ry 15. The Regiment is to start for Deesa on the 5th of February (your birthday). I have not made up my mind as yet to what course I shall adopt with respect to stopping in Bombay after the Corps is gone, but rather think I shall apply for leave to pitch my tent on the Esplanade and do nothing until the Examinations … My Monshees encourage me and tell me that there is a very good chance of my passing, but I am by no means confident of any knowledge as I find myself woefully deficient in the Colloquial examination which we have to undergo.’²³ Due to a scarcity of officers, Rawlinson’s application to remain in Bombay and work for his examination in two weeks’ time was refused, but when he found himself called as a witness in a court case at Bombay, he transferred to the 7th Native Infantry Regiment: ‘I am at present living in a tent in the seventh lines, that is with the officers of the Seventh Reg., with which corps I am now doing duty. My old Corps the Europeans left Bombay for Deesa about a week ago and I got myself removed from them to the seventh in order to wait for the examination.’²⁴

On Saturday 16 February, the examination over, Rawlinson wrote: ‘I was called up the very first which is a great disadvantage, and my examination did not last more than half an hour during which time however they kept me pretty well close at it – Courts Martial to be translated, General Orders to be read off in Hindoostanee, Bagh & Buhar, Idiomatical Questions and Conversations by a Moonshee (who by the bye happened rather fortunately to be my own private Moonshee) formed the Ordeal – and as I got through them all pretty tolerably, if I have not passed I am close upon it.’²⁵ Should he fail, Rawlinson was determined not to give up: ‘I shall go up again in May when I think I shall be pretty sure of passing – if they give me an affirmative I shall immediately begin to study Persian in readiness for the Russian Invasion.’²⁶

‘My old Moonshee has just entered with the news – I have not passed,’ continued Rawlinson’s journal, ‘I was within an inch of passing and in fact ought to have passed. There are five members, two of whom voted for me and 3 against – my translations both from Hindostanee into English and from English into Hindoostanee were actually the best of the whole lot.’²⁷ One reason for failure was not being sufficiently acquainted with idiomatic expressions, or ‘the manners of the natives’,²⁸ but the examiners also thought Rawlinson too young and immature. Had he been in India two or three months longer, they would have passed him, even without doing as well. Sensitive to failure, Rawlinson wrote that ‘they mentioned all this in the report which was sent to the Commander in Chief, but he did not think fit to publish it in General Orders, as recommended by the Committee, which I consider a great shame. There were only 4 passed out of 10. I consider myself perfectly sure of it next May – and as I am subpoened to Hockin’s trial at the end of April, it will be no inconvenience to me stopping here.’²⁹ He was heartened by the support of the governor Sir John Malcolm: ‘I went out to breakfast with him and he talked to me a good deal about it, advising to fag hard to be ready for the next time.’³⁰

Rawlinson also continued his Classical studies, as he reminisced years later: ‘I kept up my Latin and Greek and translated Greek Chorusses for the Bombay Gazette … I was a fair classic in those days – and when an Inscription was wanted I remember being asked to write it for the Municipality of Bombay.’³¹ Indulging as well his love of writing, he was thrilled to be published again, as he noted in mid-March: ‘I have again appeared in print – my muse this time has taken a classical flight and I have translated a Chorus from Aeschylus. I had the satisfaction to hear one day at dinner a Captain of the 7^th – who is considered a clever man, say in reading it – “This is very very good only a little too long to be read”. This is the delight of anonymous publication – that single sentence of accidental praise was worth to me a month of labour.’³²

He was less happy with news about Maria that he heard when dining with an officer newly arrived from Bristol: ‘he is a relation of the Brook Smiths and knows Abram a little, he said he had heard young Brooks was to be married and was very anxious to know who the lady was to be’.³³ Rawlinson knew it was Maria: ‘I wish I could hear something from you – it really does seem very odd to be hearing news of my own family from strangers. He and young Brown are the only people whom I have heard speak of young Brooke and they both call him a most insufferable dandy. I myself really think that you are a great deal too good for him.’³⁴He continued bitterly: ‘I have now given up all hopes of hearing from you at all, I have been waiting nearly 5 months now in expectation of a letter. I had fondly hoped I had friends in England to whom I was so dear as they are and ever will be to me – what can be the reason for your not writing yourself? I cannot understand it at all – it is now nearly 9 months since I left England and I have not heard a syllable from any of you – what changes and revolutions may have happened since that time! I rather expect you and Georgiana are both married. I feel a presentiment that you will be sooner or later Mrs B Smith.’³⁵ His presentiment was right, although Maria did not marry Brooke Smith for another four years.

At the beginning of May, Rawlinson sat the Hindustani examination again and wrote excitedly in his journal: ‘I have just passed an Examination in Hindoostanee and am reported qualified to act as Interpreter in that language.’³⁶ In Bombay he had also developed a particular passion for reading about history and was buying increasing numbers of books. ‘I seldom went to bed,’ he commented, ‘without being conscious that I had gained some information in the course of the day of which I had been ignorant when I arose – there is something extremely gratifying in being conscious of continual progression in knowledge.’³⁷ His thirst for learning led him into debt: ‘The Borkas are a class of men who go about selling mostly books, and of them I bought most of mine, especially oriental works. The only time I ever got into trouble for debt was with one of these Borkas, a pock marked brute with big turban. I had a row with him and refused to pay him, and he had me arrested. I was on the point of starting up the country to Ahmedabad and Guzerat, and I owed him 75 Rupees – but with expenses the sum amounted to double and then other claims came in upon me.’³⁸ He was loaned £50 to help settle his debts, and towards the end of his life noted that apart from a further £50 borrowed from his father, he never owed money again.

On 1 June 1828, Rawlinson travelled over 300 miles north to join his new regiment, the 1st Grenadier Native Infantry, at Ahmedabad, the capital city of Gujarat that had been founded in the fifteenth century. Here he remained desperately unhappy that he had heard nothing from his family, noting sadly in his journal on 6 July: ‘On this day twelvemonth I bade adieu to the fair, the lovely shores of Albion. I have since never passed a day, I might almost say an hour, without thinking of my early friends, of sisters who in days of yore protested that they loved me – but mark their conduct – they have let me languish on a foreign shore, unnoticed and uncheered by one single line or token of recollection for a long lonely year. They have forgotten me and I will forget them … I am resolved. I will forget you all, until I again believe you worthy of my regard. I am wretched, I am miserable, but I swear – never to think on you again … henceforward my thoughts shall be of myself, my mind shall rest upon the future. I have set the stamp of everlasting misery on my brow – but I swear, I swear, I swear would that I would die.’³⁹

Rather than admit he was miserable, Rawlinson resorted to pleasure and neglected his studies, about which he was later ashamed: ‘my days were spent in gambling, my nights in drinking – the billiard table and the Mess room were my only supports.’⁴⁰ It was not until 21 October that he received ‘a very nice long letter from Abram’,⁴¹ but still nothing from his sisters. Three days later came the long-awaited news from Maria, and with great relief Rawlinson wrote: ‘now indeed that I have received your journal I feel a pleasure in sitting down in the evening and recording my adventures (such as they are)’.⁴² What he did put in his journal was the routine of his life at Ahmedabad: ‘Saturday [25 October]. The days all pass much in the same manner. Parade at sunrise, they last until 7 – breakfast at 8 – study more or less till 11 – write, play billiards, go out visiting, idle or sleep until ½ past 2, dress for dinner at 3 – pool or billiards afterward, then out riding until dark, and in the evening sometimes cards, but generally we retire quietly to our respective domiciles and pass the evening as best we may, not but that it is far from unusual to have a bit of supper swilled down with a pint or two … and sometimes too we go so far as to indulge in a bit of a spree in the bazaar afterwards – this you must allow is a most monstrous course of life even when compared with yours at Chadlington – I am really quite sick of it.’⁴³

From now on he was more relaxed and less than a week later he fell in love with a young widow, Mrs Doherty: ‘I mustered courage to go up and have a chat – she was rather entertaining, and I of course was immediately over head and ears in love – this seldom lasts more than a day or two.’⁴⁴ After only two days he commented: ‘it cannot be said that I am at all seriously committed, but really a pretty woman is such a scarcity here that we transform her into an angel.’⁴⁵ Over the following days the eighteen-year-old ensign did his utmost to accept invitations where she would be present and was extremely happy when ‘she evidently showed a decided preference for my conversation above the others’.⁴⁶ By late November he admitted that he was totally lovesick. He obviously considered marrying her, but his regiment soon left for Bombay, and she later married a judge.

The regiment was back in Bombay on 1 December, and by now Rawlinson had received two more family letters – one from Georgiana and the other from his younger brother George. He resumed his studies, concentrating on Marathi, the language of the Maharastra state in which Bombay is situated. The following year, 1829, he ‘worked like a horse at languages’,⁴⁷ then passed his Marathi examination, and in July gained the post of Quartermaster, Paymaster and Interpreter with his regiment. He resumed a vigorous social life, being ‘Steward of the Balls, Manager of the theatre, head of the Billiard & Racquet Rooms’.⁴⁸ In addition, he was involved in hunting, shooting and horseracing and was constantly trying to impress the women in Bombay, where ‘I do flatter myself that I cut no very disreputable figure’.⁴⁹ In private, though, Rawlinson noted that ‘I was educating myself by an extensive course of reading … From this time dates my passion for books.’⁵⁰

In 1830 the regiment moved to Poona (now known as Pune) in the Western Ghats mountain chain, a march of nearly 100 miles south-eastwards from Bombay. Poona acted as a refuge from the summer heat for those in Bombay, with an extensive military camp about 2 miles from the town. Here Rawlinson remained for over three years, another militarily inactive period, but one that continued to be highly enjoyable. Years later he wrote that this period was ‘the most enjoyable of my life. I had excellent health, was in the heyday of youth, tremendous spirits, was celebrated in all athletic amusements, riding, shooting and especially hunting, and with the whole world before me.’⁵¹ He was so busy that he did not resume his journal until 11 April 1831, his twenty-first birthday, evidently irritated that nobody had marked the occasion, which recalled ‘more forcibly to my mind the loss I experienced in being thus far absent from the bosom of my family’.⁵² In years to come he kept returning on his birthday to this same journal entry in order to add comments on the progress in his life.

At Poona, Rawlinson’s maxim was: ‘“never engage in anything unless there is every chance of becoming first in it” – if I did not think I could be first I gave it up.’⁵³ He was so good at sports that nobody would accept his challenge to compete for the considerable stake of £100 in a combined competition of ‘running, jumping, quoits, racquets, billiards, pigeon-shooting, pig-sticking, steeple-chasing, chess, and games of skill at cards’.⁵⁴ In November 1831 at Newmarket in England, George Osbaldeston undertook a momentous horseracing match, completing 200 miles in less than eight hours using twenty-eight horses. It received massive attention, and the officers in Poona debated how they could emulate this success. It was Rawlinson who accepted a wager to race from Poona to Panwell, the mainland port of Bombay. The distance was 72 miles and the stake was £100, with a forfeit of 4 rupees to be paid for every minute over the four hours and the same amount to be paid to the rider for every minute under that time. ‘The general opinion,’ Rawlinson noted, ‘was that the match would not be won.’⁵⁵

At quarter-past-five in the morning of 22 May 1832, the 6-foot tall, 12-stone, twenty-two-year-old rider set off, dressed in ‘hunting costume, jockey cap, thick ticking jacket, with a watch sewn into the waistband, samberskin breeches, and a pair of easy old boots’.⁵⁶ He encountered numerous setbacks, from being forced to scramble with his horse over the backs of bullocks that were obstructing his way to descending the precipitous Ghats with his horse out of control. He changed horses ten times, on the third occasion being forced to abandon the exhausted animal and run uphill for a quarter of a mile to meet his next mount, because it had been stationed in the wrong place. Thousands of villagers lined the last three miles, and to the incredulity of the umpires he rode into the compound of Panwell tavern after a ride of just three hours and seven minutes, soundly winning the wager. Riding back to Poona in the afternoon with the same horses and in almost the same time, he ‘appeared at a party the same evening apparently as fresh as a lark but this was swagger!’⁵⁷

So remarkable was Rawlinson’s achievement that it was reported in newspapers in both India and England, yet in spite of these diversions he still found time for study and wrote in his journal: ‘I read a great deal, and passed a first-class examination in Persian, and in fact I believe I was a general favourite.’⁵⁸