1 Hi,STOUT OF THE SIKHS.
2 277
3 elans) of Lahore had endeavoured in vain to relieve
4 a uian, a messenger arrived for us, and the patient
5 was saved from death by a single operation, of
6 which however they had no knowledge. On rela¬
7 ting this circumstance to the Maharajah, he
8 remarked “ Those English doctors would; I believe,
9 bring people back from then* graves 1 .” no small
10 compliment, certainly, to the profession.
11 The Maharajah said he had heard that claret,
12 was much used among the English officers, and
13 requested that we would give him a bottle for trial,
14 l ie tasted the wine, hut did not at all approve of it,
15 adding that it was little better than water, and
16 wondering, at our bad taste in using such insipid
17 stuff.
18 The fiery spirit made use of by the Sikhs is
19 stronger than our brandy, and approaches nearer
20 to whiskey *, yet they indulge in it undiluted to a
21 great extent ; and most of the sirdars are under
22 its influence, or that of opium, for eighteen hours out
23 of the twenty-four. Their early use of both the
24 spirit and the drug renders them indispensable
25 through life ; if deprived of their usual dose, the Sikh
26 is one of the most wretched beings imaginable,
27 resembling a man on the point of delirium tremens.
28 Before engaging in any feat, the Sikh takes his
29 opium, by which he is for a time excited, but this
30 is soon followed by langour and inactivity. There
31 is iio doubt that Runjeet’s early indulgence in dissi¬
32 pation brought on the ailment of which he ulti¬
33 mately died, and though he was latterly restricted