Chapter XVII

My royal friend has an unaccountable taste. What can I think of a
king so passionately fond of chasing unprofitable quadrupeds? “Here
runs an antelope! There goes a bear!” Such is our only conversation.
Even at noon, in excessive heat, when not a tree in the forest has
a shadow under it, we must be skipping and prancing about like the
beasts whom we follow. Are we thirsty? we have nothing to drink but
the waters of mountain-torrents, which taste of burned stones and
maukish leaves. Are we hungry? We must greedily devour lean venison,
and that commonly rosted to a stick. Have I a moment’s repose at
night? My slumber is disturbed by the din of horses and elephants,
or by the sons of slave-girls hallooing out, “More venison, more
venison!” Then comes a cry that pierces my ear, “Away, to the forest,
away!”

SACONTALA.

The emperor set out for Cashmere in high spirits. The war he looked upon as substantially terminated in his favour; the great object he had now to obtain of a political nature, was the capture of the rebellious prince; until that was accomplished, he could not be at ease upon his throne, inasmuch as if the prince were to remain at large, he would, no doubt, always find the means of exciting the spirit of revolt in one or more of the remote provinces of the empire.

The country between Lahore and Cashmere may be said to present almost a level surface, to the very foot of the mountains within which the latter district is situated. Here and there tracts of forest afford to the traveller a temporary protection from the heat of the sun, which shines down upon all that immense plain with a degree of intensity not experienced in any other part of Hindostan. The rivers are numerous by which it is intersected; but they flow in such imperceptible currents, spreading frequently into large lakes when swollen by the melting of the snows on the mountains, and then leaving behind them marshes, which speedily become jungles, that the roads most frequented in one year, are the succeeding year scarcely to be distinguished. The march of an army over such a plain as that, is necessarily attended with numerous difficulties. Hemmed in, moreover, along its whole northern border by an abrupt chain of rocks, rising like a mural boundary almost to the sky, its atmosphere traversed by no refreshing breezes, and when disturbed, varied only by winds hotter even than the simoom of the desert, it scarcely permits to man or beast the power of breathing, or of moving, without great pain.

The emperor, therefore, leaving his elephants at Lahore, mounted the fleetest of his Arabian hunters, and attended by Auzeem, and a small escort of his household guard, confided himself to the care of guides, resolved to journey chiefly by night, and to pursue the shortest route which could be found practicable to the nearest range of the mountains. Once arrived on the rising grounds, they could travel at their ease by circuitous paths into Cashmere, sporting on the way, or resting among the cooler regions of the Himalahs, until the whole army should overtake them. Bochari, as commander of the forces, could not abandon them to the control of any inferior officer, upon such an occasion. But he had full authority from the emperor to consult his own and their convenience in every possible way, resting in the forests, making short marches during the night, and keeping as nearly as a reasonable degree of expedition could allow them, to the banks of the rivers, that they might, under no circumstances, be out of the reach of the vital element.

Jehangire took also with him his dogs and hunting leopards, his falcons and fowling-pieces, not forgetting his celebrated gun Droostandaz, that never missed any object at which he aimed it. It was of Damascus manufacture, the barrel exquisitely formed within and without, exhibiting, near the extreme end, a small but exceedingly bright diamond, as a point for directing the sight, and along its sides, curiously inscribed in gold, a series of hieroglyphic characters, which were said to bestow upon it the virtues it possessed. The barrel was set in a stock of ebony, cut from a tree that had grown in the garden of Eden. It was inlaid with pearls white as the snow, and with emeralds and rubies of great price. Droostandaz was always kept in a silver case, lined with purple velvet, except when the emperor wished to use it. Such was the veneration in which this gun was held, that it was a rule with Jehangire to discharge it on the first day of every month, and this discharge was immediately followed by the whole train, from the highest dignitary to the lowest stipendiary enrolled in the service of the state, whether cannoneer or matchlock-man, who happened to be at the time within the reach of its report.

A few nights’ hard riding, under the direction of guides perfectly conversant with the country, enabled the imperial party to pass the more oppressive part of the plain, and to gain the eminences leading to the mountains, of which they speedily became sensible by the fresher air which they began to breathe. Here they reposed for a while, enjoying the breezes that came down, wafted on the surface of many a merry stream, and which, after the furnace they had just gone through, they found peculiarly delicious. As they ascended the mountains they met, from day to day, with game in abundance--antelopes, deer, quails, grey and black partridges, wild ducks and teal, which they did not disdain to dress for themselves, when they happened to be near no hamlet, where persons could be found to perform that office for them. On these occasions, Auzeem took an active part in the culinary functions, in which he displayed no common skill. The emperor found a new pleasure in affording him assistance. The produce of the morning’s sport, in which Droostandaz maintained its celebrity, was distributed at noon; a shady ravine was then fixed upon, to which brambles, and other dried wood, was brought by some of the escort; fires were lighted; the birds were divested of their feathers; the deer, if any had been taken, were cut up into fragments; and both were stretched on spikes of the arbutus, which grows in abundance on those heights. The spikes being then placed round the fires, were carefully turned round, until the viands, whose savoury odours filled the atmosphere with a fragrance peculiarly welcome to the sense of mountain sportsmen, were fully roasted, when the whole party sat in circles, without any ceremonies of precedence, and enjoyed the meal they had procured with their own hands. The sparkling streams falling near them were their only drink, and although Auzeem, as well as his imperial companion, were of opinion that the spring would have been improved, if it could be made to blush a little with a flask of Cabul wine, nevertheless, they both agreed, that the game of the Himalahs was the most delicious they had ever tasted.

Having had no occasion to ascend to the upper ranges of the country, in pursuit of sport, the hunting party roved through a charming climate. Valleys and gentle declivities, carpeted with thymy herbage, opened passages for them around the bases of bold mountains, whose summits were crowned with perpetual snow. They seldom, failed towards night, to discover huts of shepherds, or clusters of habitations belonging to villagers, where, though unknown, they were received with the greatest hospitality. Mats were stretched on the floor, and covered with sheep-skins, on which they slept; in the morning, the new milk of cows and goats was presented to them in wooden bowls, with cakes baked upon the embers of the cedar, and cream-cheese, fresh from the hand of the fair manufacturer, and spread upon a couch of green reeds, newly plucked from the neighbouring stream. These simple luxuries, enjoyed in the pure air of morning, beneath a sky of transparent azure, amid the music of waterfalls and gentle breezes, and myriads of birds, imparted new life to Jehangire, and taught him how irreparable were the privations of those sons of fortune, whom soft cushions, and nocturnal indulgences, and habits engendered by artificial wants, detained at such hours beneath the gilded roofs of their palaces.

Nor did he disdain, when, towards evening, no sign of human dwelling was observable, to assist his companions in cutting down wood and erecting rude huts, beneath which, if the night were cold, they found an agreeable shelter. But if the moon silvered the sky and the valley, and the plane or cedar offered its friendly shade, and the softened genial breeze just stirred the foliage with that sweet murmur, so friendly to sleep, he preferred the couch thus prepared for him by nature, surrounded by his beagles and hunting leopards, who formed a night-guard, not unworthy even of the Emperor of Hindostan, so beautiful did those noble animals appear when wrapped in slumbers, from which the slightest sound of his voice would have aroused them, had he had occasion for their services.

The enjoyments of the party were sometimes varied by fishing, when they reached the more copious torrents which tumbled from the rocks above them. Here they amused themselves by fabricating baskets from the willows, or reeds, or such other materials as the place afforded. Placing themselves near the midst of the stream, and holding their baskets firmly beneath the rush of the waters, they soon received whole clusters of the red and silver mullet, the carp, the trout, and pike, and chard, whose efforts to escape, by leaping from the toils in which they were caught, and by slipping through hands unaccustomed to deal with such prey, afforded cause for many blithesome bursts of laughter. But the more awkward fishermen were not without their revenge, when, the fires being lighted, they beheld the scales lately so polished and evasive, assume a deep rich brown, and inhaling from the cheerful blaze the incense of the smoking captives, prepared for the feast which they were about to enjoy with hearty appetites.

While thus roaming among the hills, Auzeem, by the emperor’s desire, issued strict orders that his real character should on no account be mentioned by any of his suite; that they should be represented simply as a party of idlers, in search of sport, and that no appearance of state observance, or homage, should indicate to strangers the presence of any person above the ordinary station of cavaliers.

In order to preserve his assumed character, Jehangire exchanged his jewelled turban, his flowered satin pelisse, his cincture of Persian gold cloth, his vest of brocade, and his trowsers of white silk, for the plain attire of a hunter, consisting of a linen vest and trowsers bound at the waist by a shawl, a light green cloth pelisse, and round cap, covered with the yellow fur of the flying squirrel, which Auzeem succeeded in procuring for him at one of the villages they had visited in the course of their excursions.

One afternoon, as the lengthening shadows of the poplars, and the golden reflection of the sunbeams upon the mountains, whose snowy peaks were already putting on their mantles of purple, warned Jehangire and his companions that it was time to look out for a resting-place for the night, they were about to establish themselves upon the margin of a river, which ran under a beetling rock, covered with ivy and clematis in full flower, when the quick ear of Auzeem detected the sound of a distant drum. Bending down to the surface of the water, he listened more attentively, and being assured that he was not mistaken, and that the drum was occasionally aided by some other instrument, he informed the emperor of his discovery, at the same time proposing that they should go on alone to trace the sounds to their source. They had not gone far up the stream, when they satisfied themselves that they were approaching some scene of rustic rejoicing, as shouts of mirth came upon the breeze, mingled with the music of the pipe and tambourine, to whose music dancers were keeping time. The river, suddenly winding through a small defile, led them to a green valley, completely circled by rocks, where they beheld a numerous group of peasants and shepherds, assembled round the stump of an oak tree, on which the musicians were elevated. Youths and maidens, clothed in white linen tunics and trowsers, their heads bound with wreaths of natural flowers, were engaged dancing in a circle, sometimes holding each other by the hand, sometimes separating and chasing each other under an arch of fresh branches, evidently just erected for the purpose. Then gathering round a pole, which was decorated with gay ribands, intermingled with white and yellow roses, they sang a hymeneal song, inviting to the scene of their festivity two lovers whose union, they said, they were assembled to celebrate. The lovers were hid in a neighbouring cave, but upon the conclusion of the song they came forth hand in hand, vested in bridal garments. A venerable ancient, whose hair flowed on his shoulders like fine filaments of burnished silver, pronounced a blessing upon the blushing pair, as they knelt before him, and the nuptial ceremony being then concluded, the song and the dance were resumed round the pole, the newly married couple joining in the general mirth with the most artless cordiality.

Jehangire, delighted with this picture of rural enjoyment, felt happy that he could become one of the party, without any fear of his rank being detected. The moment the two strangers made their appearance, they were hailed as friends, and presented with curdled milk, parched wheat, cakes, oranges, and sweet lemons, with portions of their green branches still appendant to them. Two of the prettiest shepherdesses in the assembly then selected them for their partners in the next dance, in which they joined with infinite glee, endeavouring, as well as their disciplined limbs could permit them, to imitate the heavy step and the swaggering jumping gait of their male rivals in the scene.

An interval of breathing-time allowed Auzeem to observe, that in the place in which this happy meeting was held, no fewer than seven crystal brooks formed a junction. The streams descended from the declivities of the hills, and singing on their way through trees, and over verdant dells, and naked rocks, united in the centre of the valley. Thence flowing away in one full river, their varied sounds were hushed into a low murmur of sweet content, as if each had felicitated itself upon succeeding in the attainment of an object necessary to the perfection of its happiness. An aged man, to whom he expressed the idea thus presented to his mind, explained that it was for this reason--the meeting of the seven streams, and the joy their music inspired--the valley was usually chosen for the celebration of the nuptials of the peasantry of the district.

In the course of the evening, while all were seated on the turf, partaking of the simple refreshments that had been provided for them, two sturdy looking boors arose, and placing themselves before Jehangire, asked him what birds he should wish to see or to hear upon the trees around them? The monarch, astonished at the question, replied, that he would be well-pleased if he could hear the blue thrush of the Himalahs, whose song he understood to be enchanting, though it had never yet met his ear. The boors said that the haunt of those thrushes was at some distance from the valley where they then were, and, therefore, that it would require a little time to get the songsters to come to their command, but that they would do the best they could. Ascending one of the rocks, the two men uttered a united call, whose shrillness, at first, pierced the sky, but as it was continued, it softened gradually into a voice of melody, quivering on the air, answered repeatedly by echoes still more musical, until the whole atmosphere seemed busy in repeating and modulating the sounds. Just as they died away, a flight of birds became perceptible at the verge of the horizon. In a few minutes they were perched upon one of the neighbouring trees, whence, after a momentary pause, they poured forth a full tide of notes, the wildest, the most varied, the most captivating, which even the travelled Auzeem had ever heard from glade or forest. Their azure backs, their wings tipped with Indian ink, and their breasts of a deep autumnal yellow, characterised them as beyond all doubt the identical species of birds which the monarch had desired to behold. The beauteous creatures, being dismissed from their task of obedience, winged their way back again to their distant homes with the joy of exiles, who are permitted, after a long absence, to bend their steps towards the land of their birth.

The next choice was offered to Auzeem, who said, that as he was not particular, he would be contented to renew an acquaintance he had once formed with a colony of rawils[1]--the pleasantest set of feathered fellows it had been his fortune to have yet encountered. The boors, looking knowingly at Auzeem, and at each other, returned to the rocks they had before ascended, and each placing his fore-finger, bent nearly double, in his mouth, uttered a whistle, which, after a pause, seemed to have been answered from an immense distance. They then beckoned with their hands, as if summoning in the direction where they stood, a little speck of cloud, scarcely visible, near the highest ridges of the mountains; it came on, however, rapidly, subservient to their mandate, enlarging as it approached, until separating into fragments, it resolved itself into a troop of above a hundred birds, who took possession of a large mulberry-tree that overlooked the valley. There was something so grotesque in their appearance, the plumage of the back, wings, and tail being of a dun brown, while their heads, surmounted by elevated crests, and their throats and breasts looked as if they had been powdered with flour by some mischievous boy, that Jehangire could not help laughing at the odd choice Auzeem had made.

[1] Laughing crows.

The emotion of the monarch was taken up immediately by the new visitors as a sort of personal rudeness. They bandied it about from one to another, as if asking, “Did you ever hear such a thing?” until one of the elder rawils, who looked more cunning than the rest, seemed to say, “The man surely must be tipsy:” when up rose a shout of laughter from the mulberry-tree, as if not only each bird, but each particular leaf upon every one of its branches were endowed with the faculty of turning the “sovereign splendour of the faith” into ridicule. Jehangire was astonished beyond measure. The old bird, not content with this retaliation, waited quietly until the noise somewhat subsided, when with his--“Laugh at us, indeed,--the squirrel!” or sounds which Jehangire could have sworn to be those words--alluding, he supposed, to his cap--the peal was renewed again and again until the emperor, Auzeem, the whole nuptial assembly, and the very boors themselves, joined in the merry chorus, jumping about, and holding their sides, and rolling on the earth, as if the joyous visitation were never to have an end.

This was not all. The leader of the band, determined on an ample measure of revenge, hopped down deliberately upon the ground before Jehangire, and looking up in his face, turned rapidly round on one leg, cocked up his tail, and enriching the earth with spoils, for which the “Safeguard of the world” was little prepared, again gave the signal of mirth. It was answered by the whole century of scaramouches, who, perching on the rocks, had the impudence to revile the Padishah with all the indignity that could be concentrated in halloos and groans, intermingled with ebullitions of laughter tuned to every note of the ascending and descending scale of the gamut.

Auzeem at length cried out, as well as his aching sides allowed him, that they must all expire, unless the rawils were sent away. His request was attended to, as soon as the boors could recover their power of speech, and the valley, once more resuming the soothing songs of its seven streams, the assembly gradually separated, not, however, before abundant arrangements were made for the hospitable entertainment of the two strangers and their companions, as long as they might choose to remain in that part of the country.