THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 4/ 



Although my post was at that time not fixed, and conse- 

 quently I did not depend on, nor was I subject to any one 

 I nevertheless imagined that my departure for the mountains 

 had met with the consent of Runjeet S\n^. But it was not so. 

 The young Rajah, who had a secret disease, had induced me 

 privately to accompany him, whilst Runjeet Sing, in my four 

 months' absence, inquired after me several' times of General 

 Avitabile, who had first introduced me to him. It v/as, probab- 

 ly, for that reason that he detained me for nine months 

 without giving me my dismissal, or appointing me to any 

 office. General Allard said to me one day, jesting, " It is 

 very difficult to get an appointment here, but still mors 

 so to get one's dismissal, when once in offi;ce.'' He himself, 

 feeling an excessive longing to revisit his dear native land', 

 after an absence of so many years, petitioned for a short 

 leave of absence, which the sly Runjeet Sing repeatedly 

 promised, but a long time elapsed before he obtained it. 



On the third day after our starting for the mountains, we 

 arrived at Suchetghur, at the foot of the hills, not far from 

 Samba. We made our journey partly on horses, and partly 

 on elephants. At that place, the rajah had his stables and 

 cannon-foundry, and several new-cast cannons and mortars 

 were tried in his presence. One of the former burst, and a 

 gulendas (Indian artilleryman) was stunned. The rajah 

 requested me to examine the man, who complained of a 

 violent pain on his right side, accompanied by severe 

 shivering ; but, to the great astonishment of all the specta- 

 tors, there was not the least trace of any external violence, 

 whereupon the rajah himself, considering the case insigni- 

 ficant, opposed my wish to bleed him, and sent him some of 

 his own mumiai. But at ten o'clock at night, about five 

 hours after the accident had taken place, a messenger was 

 sent by the rajah requesting me to attend the man, and 

 bleed him. I instantly complied, and found that he had 

 been, according to the custom of the Hindoos, taken out of 

 his charpai ( bed ) and laid on the floor^ where he expired 

 in agony before I could give him any assistance. I do not 

 know whether his liver was injured or not, a post-mortem 



