THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 99 



was composed. The latter has been recently promoted to 

 the rank of rajah by the English. 



The small doses of opium ( every afternoon one pill 

 of 3 gr?. ) which Runjeet Sing took daily, and the strong 

 spirits he used to drink at different hours of the day, 

 transported him into a kind of excitement, which mani- 

 fested itself in the highest degree in the evening, after 

 the enjoyment of larger portions of spirits. Every one 

 loved and feared him at the same time. He had an army 

 of 100,000 men, inspiring awe and respect, half of whom were 

 regular and the other half irregular troops, with whom he 

 miiiht have enforced his laws on all the Hindoos ; never- 

 thelesss, he entertained the greatest friendship with his 

 neighbours the English, and manifested his favour towards 

 the French, the Italians, and other European nations, by 

 making them governors in his provinces. His disease was 

 brought on by a severe cold, and by indulging somewhat 

 too much in strong spirits. The latter I am told was 

 especially the case during the winter in which the Governor- 

 General of India, Lord Auckland, came to Lahore to pay 

 him a visit. In the transport of his joy, he drank more than 

 ordinarily. Probably, if an emetic had been given at the 

 commencement of the disease, it would have produced a 

 good effect ; but as the native physicians did not know of 

 any good and effective emetic, and are fearful, also^ of the 

 effects of vomiting, they prefer using purgatives, by which 

 sometimes the disease grows worse, as the case above related 

 sufficiently proves. 



It made a very deep impression on my feelings to have 

 been prevented from making myself useful to the maharajah, 

 and restoring to health the man on whose life was depending 

 the happiness, peace and prosperity of that country. Every 

 one whose forethought enabled him to throw a glance on the 

 future, must have seen with pain and sorrow that a violent 

 crisis menaced that country, by which a nation scarcely risen 

 from barbarity might suik back into its former condition. 



The first sad and cruel scene that I witnessed after the 

 death of Runjeet Sing, was the Suttee, or burning of his 



17 



